DEFINITION OF TERMS

BLOOD
LAMB
LAMB OF GOD
WORD
TESTIMONY
TESTIMONY, TABERNACLE OF
MARTYR
DEATH

The key to understanding Revelation 12:11 is to recognise that our Christian walk is a journey, not an event. Yes, maturity in God is a process, both for the individual and the church as a whole.

Not surprisingly, as we have established in our earlier study of ‘The Power of ‘3’,(see previous teachings link below) our walk is a three-step process. Each step builds on the previous one/s, and at each step, one member of the godhead predominates. Now I appreciate that this may differ from common understanding. But please, don’t reject it out of hand, because as you will see how, if you persist, this truth explains the reasons for a lot of the seemingly inexplicable things that happen as we progress in our walk with the Lord. And amazingly, it is all summed up in this one short verse, Revelation 12:11.

For the verse is split into three parts, each corresponding with a stage in our walk with Jesus. This is where the name “Walking With Jesus Ministries” came from, just in case you were interested. The verse starts off by telling us why we should walk, rather than stand still, and that is to overcome Satan. Otherwise Satan is likely to overcome us! “They overcame him (Satan) by……” The “him” concerned is definitely satan, as he is clearly identified 2 verses earlier. Please check me out! Don’t take my word for anything! I have been known to be wrong before today!

The only way to make this truly real to you, is to confirm for yourself, that what (I believe) the Lord is saying through me is scripturally and spiritually correct. My family will tell you that I have not attained perfection yet! Probably too, that I still have a long way to go to get there!

Revelation 12:11 tells us that Satan can be overcome through a three step process to be worked out in our lives, each step building upon the previous one and emphasising a different member of the godhead. I must emphasise the order in the building process as set out. Short cuts aren’t possible! That is why it takes time as well as desire to come to maturity in Christ. So let’s see how it is done!

This is the easiest part of the verse to interpret for all true Christians have experienced it, by definition. We all know, at least experientially, about the power of the “blood” and the “lamb”, even if we are not 100% sure what they really mean. ‘Christian-ese’ is so very easy to fall into isn’t it? When we don’t understand something properly, we use a good religious word and everyone thinks that we are really with it! But then it is probably only me who has done that! But the meanings of these two words are quite clear in scripture.

The very first public declaration of Jesus’ ministry by John the Baptist was prefaced with,

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

There are of course, many pictures throughout the Old Testament, of the coming of Jesus as a lamb. These things excite me, as they are ongoing proof of God’s intentions and plans for mankind, right from earliest times! Really helps build my faith, Yours too?

Take Abraham, for example. Abraham lived 2,000 thousand years before Jesus. He was on the way with his precious son Isaac, to the place where his faith was going to be put to the ultimate test. He was being asked by God to sacrifice the precious son he fathered miraculously when he was 100 years old and his wife a mere ninety (even more of a miracle!). One gets the feeling that Isaac had inkling of what was going on because he asked where the sacrifice was going to come from. Abraham replied,

“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8)

And much to the relief of Abraham, let alone Sarah and Isaac, the miraculous sacrifice was provided, right at the last minute. God’s impeccable sense of timing, once again! I am pleased to see that “last minute” doesn’t only apply to me!

Then again, around 500 years later, at the first Passover, the Israelites were required to sacrifice a lamb, then put its blood around the door to avoid their firstborn sons being killed along with those of the Egyptians.

Two pictures of the lamb to come, that is Jesus, 2,000 and 1,500 years before He was born!

The Passover story combines the blood and the lamb perfectly – the lamb was sacrificed and the blood used to protect the Israelites houses from the final plague of the death of the firstborn sons.

A beautiful picture of Jesus, who was to come 15 centuries later! Jesus, the lamb sacrificed for us, whose blood was poured out for the forgiveness of all sins, saving us from spiritual death.

For scriptural confirmation of the connection between Jesus and the blood we will go to the last book of the bible, written towards the end of the 1st century AD. Revelation 1:5 explains the relationship between sin and the blood of Jesus;

“……To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”. (Revelation 1:5)

So I trust it is clear to you that “the blood of the Lamb” does in fact refer to Jesus. That is of course, why the word 'Lamb' starts with a capital - a proper noun.

As indicated above, a personal experience of “the blood of the lamb” is the one and only essential qualification for becoming a Christian. The only membership requirement for entering God’s kingdom. Spiritually speaking, the cleansing blood of Jesus becomes effective in our lives at the time we accept Him as our “Saviour”, as the one who “saves us” from our sin and re-establishes our relationship with God the Father for us. His blood is available to everyone, but only becomes effective when we ‘avail’ (take advantage of) ourselves of it. These ‘religious’ words such as ‘avail’ can be difficult to understand at first but they do convey very precise meanings that other words don’t.

For example, I grew up in a Christian home and knew all about Jesus and ‘salvation through the blood’. But knowledge was not enough to ‘save’ me. It was not until I was ready to personally accept His offer (availed myself of it) that it had personal application to me. Like buying a product from the “Life” shop where only one product is traded, eternal life (the blood of Jesus) upon a trade-in of eternal death (sin). If only supermarket shopping was so simple!

When born, we all receive an inheritance gift from our parents, the gift of sin, or at least, the irresistible tendency to sin, depending upon your theology. Sounds harsh, but it is true. For it is the continuing gift of countless generations past. But on the bright side it is the only acceptable currency at the Life shop and we all have sufficient of it! No, we don’t have to work at getting more! I was pretty good at that for many years! We can read the Life shop’s advertising, we can even pass the shop by as I did for 42 years, but unless we enter through the door (Jesus) and personally trade in our sin, we can’t receive eternal life. There is no other currency we can use, only sin! Money is no good! Good works don’t work either! Nor can we send our spouse, parents, pastor or priest to trade on our behalf. We have to present the identity card of our life to make the transaction.

I walked past that door on many occasions when I was younger, looking at the advertising in the window, but reluctant to give up what I had for what seemed to me to be such a long term promise. Later I decided that the promise wasn’t what I wanted, preferring to run as far away from the shop as possible. It wasn’t until I became bankrupt, both morally and financially, having tried to fight with all I had and lost the battle, that I came back running, repentant, to the Life shop. I willingly entered through the door of Jesus, to trade in my, by then, considerable sack of sin, for the ultimate gift of eternal life. Now I kick myself for not doing it sooner, for it was so much easier than I imagined, nor was the cost great either. For the pleasure of my bag of sin paled against the joy of my new ‘eternal’ life!

NEXT WEEK: A REVELATION OF... REVELATION 12:11WALKING WITH JESUS continues

Next Tuesday we are investigating the underlying meaning of blood and why its shedding is necessary in order that we return to relationship with God.

As well we are going to see why, in reality, we haven't made it to perfection yet.

As we go through this set of teachings, I trust you will catch the 'heart' of Walking With Jesus Ministry's vision and purpose. The day the Lord gave me this verse and started to explain it, as I was outside working in our commercial flower growing operation, changed my life. I hope that it can now help transform yours also.

This series of pictures is of outdoor adventures which New Zealand is famous for. In the Winter some parts of the country have snow, so skiing and now snowboarding, are popular. Today's photo was taken in one of our South Island Ski Fields.

Subject: Snowboarder
Location: Cardrona Ski Area