The gracious, gentle, Almighty Holy Spirit brought it to me again with fresh impact; something He had shown me several years ago.
Revelation 12:11 - they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
(Amplified) - and they have conquered him by means of the Blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death - holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing.
I used to figure that, generally speaking, I understood this verse. Because Jesus had died for them, they testified that they would rather die than deny Him. But I sensed there was richer truth which I hadn't yet got hold of. As I think of and pray for believers who are tortured and martyred for Christ, I wondered how a coward such as I would handle such a testing. They overcame ..... We know that in the future Satan will be crushed but this verse speaks of glorious overcoming in the midst of agony. What was the word of their testimony? And what does not loving their lives have to do with the Blood of the Lamb?
EVERYTHING ! ! !
The Life of Jesus, in Whose veins that Blood pulsed, glowed with trust, love, devotion and obedience to God. Why is that Blood so powerful? Jesus did not die and take up His cross only at Calvary; He took up His cross every day of His life and died to Himself daily. His precious life of self-sacrificing obedience qualified Him for a death which qualified me for His Life by the power of His shed Blood.
But that Blood could never have been shed apart from His total sacrifice of SELF on the cross, the final step in His continual self-denial.
Because of His SELF-sacrifice, the Blood is a living, spiritual, heavenly power. But the full, active power of the Blood cannot be received by me without a similar sacrifice of SELF. Jesus chose to shed His Blood, to lose His life, rather than commit the sin of pleasing Himself. Through the Holy Spirit, that Blood can impart its holy nature to me and bring me a SELF-sacrificing nature. The martyrs in Verse 11 testified to the victory of the Saviour Who shed His Blood and by the inner, working power of that Blood, they testified that they hated a life which would continue only by denying Him. This does not happen suddenly and surprisingly just when facing persecution. It must apply to a daily life of SELF-denial; I must take up my cross and die daily to SELF. because by the Holy Spirit, the Blood cleanses and empowers me to live the only life which exalts Jesus -- Resurrection Life; and to hate a life which denies Him and His lordship in any area of my life. He must increase and I must decrease until it is all of Christ and none of me. Of course that's God's grand purpose in the restoration of the Divine Image. The martyrs chose and still choose to die rather than commit the sin of pleasing themselves. It is the Blood of the SELF-sacrificing Lamb which gives the SELF-sacrificing power to suffer and die. And it is only the Blood of the SELF-sacrificing Lamb that can give me the power to live a SELF-sacrificing life. As I yield to the Holy Spirit, He will apply the ever-active power of the Blood to every part of my life.
Saviour, more than life to me -- more than any life or any part of life which hinders what pleases God ... to reveal Jesus in me.
