Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #12 of Revelation, chapter 12, and we are going to be reading Revelation 12:11:

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.

This refers to the true believers who are said to be this “woman” that brought forth the man child.  She fled into the wilderness where she was fed of God for the “1,260 days,” which represents the entire New Testament church age period.  God took care of her spiritual needs through the ministry of His Word within the churches and congregations.

At the same time that Christ went to the cross and Satan was bound, the body of believers had fled to the wilderness to the place where God had prepared a “place” for them, which was the institution of the New Testament church.  The churches were now the object of Satan’s anger and he would come against them, again, and again.  He would attack the Word of God, as the Word, the oracles of God, were found within the New Testament churches and congregations. 

The “accuser of the brethren” now shifted his focus and his ire to those within the churches.  We read in Revelation 12:11:

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…

The elect of God overcame Satan.  This Greek word translated as “overcame” is a word we have seen several times already in the Book of Revelation.  Here, it is in the “past tense,” as “overcame,” but we have seen it in the present tense as “overcome.”  It is a word, Strong’s #3528, which means “to prevail,” “to conquer,” or to “get the victory.”  The firstfruits that were saved during the New Testament church age overcame Satan “by the blood of the Lamb.”   This is why it said they “overcame,” in the past tense.  It is not looking back to the cross in 33 AD, but it is looking back to the point when the Lamb of God was slain and the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.  It says in Revelation 13:8:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him…

In this context, the pronoun “him” is referring to the beast or Satan.  Then it goes on to say, in Revelation 13:8:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This “book of life” is a figure of speech to indicate that God made a choice before the world began when He predestinated certain people to become saved.  The rest He did not predestinate, so it is as if He had a book and He wrote down the names of every one He intended to save.  Even though that was a great multitude of people (very possibly two hundred million), it would still leave an enormous number of people whose names were not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, considering that today the population of the world has mushroomed to over seven billion people.  Yes, God did save a great multitude out of Great Tribulation, but even if we would estimate that He saved 175 million or 190 million, it would still leave billions of people that never became saved.  They dwelt upon the earth during the time of the Great Tribulation and in these days after the Tribulation, but their names were not written in the Book of the Lamb and, therefore, they did worship the beast during that period of time when Satan was victorious over the churches and over the world, until all official rule was taken from him (on May 21, 2011).

So, here, in Revelation 12, it says that God’s elect “overcame him by the blood of the lamb.”  The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world; that is when His blood was shed.  If He was slain, that means He was killed at that point and His blood was shed then – the life is in the blood – and Christ gave up His life from the foundation of the world.  That shedding of blood and the life that the Lord Jesus gave from the world’s foundation is what caused the people of God to “overcome” Satan.

We also see in Revelation 7:14:

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The blood of the Lamb is that which saves and purifies and washes away sin, according to the Bible and that salvation is through the work and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did all the work necessary and the sinner did nothing.  Those that are truly saved, the elect, did nothing to overcome Satan, but the Lord Jesus Christ did it all.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 12:11:

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…

It bears repeating that Christ’s sacrifice took place before the world began, so God’s people overcame by that sacrifice and also “by the word of their testimony.”  Why does it say that it was also “by the word of their testimony”?  It is because it is the Word of God, the Bible, which God uses to apply the blood of Christ to the sinner; that is, Christ died long before any man was born and even before the world was created; that was when His blood was shed and He gave up His life; that is when He resurrected and rose from the dead and “declared to be the Son of God with power.”  As that Son, He created the world and the history of the world began and mankind fell into sin.  God began to redeem His people.  For example, God started with Abel.  God, as it were, took the “hyssop” and dipped it into the blood of Christ, the Lamb that was slain, and applied it to the soul of Abel, saving him.  Yet, that was accomplished by the hearing of the Word of God.  And God saved Noah and God saved Abraham and God saved Jacob and God saved Isaac, and so on.  The Word of God acted as the applicator of Christ’s redemptive work, as the Word of God brought redemption to His people all throughout history. 

So, the “overcoming” was accomplished by the blood of the Lamb that was slain and died for those He determined to save, but it was also “by the word of their testimony.”  It says, “by the word of their testimony” because the Word of God does not carry itself.  It does not just float along by itself through the air, although I guess in a way it does because the Word is out there in the airwaves, but how did it get out there?  God’s people are utilized by God to accomplish this purpose, as He wills in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.  And it has always been God’s good pleasure to send forth His Word to perform what He would have it to perform.  In the day of salvation, His will was to bring the message of the Bible into the nations of the world, into the “nooks and crannies,” and the towns and cities and suburbs and the backstreets and alleys of this earth.  God’s Word traveled far and wide; it went everywhere, especially during the Latter Rain period of the Great Tribulation, when the “latter rain” was falling all over the earth, primarily through the electronic medium.  The Word of God was carried forth by the people of God.  In ancient times, they literally carried the Word of God – it had to be on them in their possession, or in their heart and minds, so they could share it with others as it came forth out of their mouths.  By the Word of their testimony, others would hear the Bible’s message, in conjunction with the work of Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world also being applied on that person’s behalf.  Therefore, “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”  It has always been a glorious and wonderful task to be involved in bringing the Word of God, as it says in Romans 10:15: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

There is another verse using the word “testimony” in the previous chapter, in Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Now in our current chapter, in Revelation 12, we are reading of the church age and the “testimony” was intact; the “testimony” was in the midst of the congregations and that testimony was the Word of God and God’s people carried that testimony in expanding the churches into remote areas of the world, and at times they gave up their lives.

But at the end of Revelation 11:7, it is looking ahead to the end of the church age when the “two witnesses,” the witness of the Bible within the churches, comes to an end and their testimony is finished at that point.  It is finished within the churches. 

Then the “two witnesses” stood upon their feet, after “three and one half days” and God had that final plan to evangelize the earth again, one last time, “unto salvation,” saving that great multitude in the second part of the Great Tribulation.

Let us go back to Revelation 12:11:

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.

The people of God “loved not their lives unto the death,” and that is good that they did not love their lives because God warns us against that in John 12:24-25:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

“He that loveth his life shall lose it.”  If you love your position and place in this world; if you love the things of this world and you do not want to give them up, then you certainly would not want to take up your cross and follow Christ and live a life of sacrificing and suffering; live a life where there is much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of heaven; a life where there is affliction for the Word’s sake; a life during recent years when there was “great tribulation” and now a life of severe testing as we go through the Day of Judgment.  These things are not pleasant and someone who loves this life will want to flee these things.  They will not want to take up their cross and suffer for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, for Christ’s sake and for the Word’s sake.  They will not want to experience affliction, trials and tribulation, and so forth.  It is grievous and it is difficult.  It is a very trying experience.  Who, in their right minds, would want to live through these things and experience these things when they can have a life of ease?  They do not have to worry about what the Bible says, or at least not to be concerned to the utmost degree.   “I will just relax a little bit and I will accept more of what the churches are teaching or more of the things of the world.  Then I will be much happier and I will not have so many difficulties and trials.”  That is true, because if you start acting like the world, or like the churches which are like the world today, and you return to them and start behaving as they do, you will get along much better in this world as you live your life.  You will be much more comfortable and at ease, because the world loves its own.  Satan is not interested in coming against those that really do not identify with the truths of the Word of God.  If you start giving in to the lusts of the flesh and your sinful desires, then that battle within yourself will die down.  I know someone may be saying, “Well, what kind of advice is this?”  I am not giving anyone advice to go to the world – it is not worth it at all, not in the least, even if you had all the world, as Jesus said: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

What is in view in our verse is that they “loved not their lives unto the death.”  They did not choose to satisfy their flesh, to please their physical desires, to take care of their bodies over the desire of their spirits or over what God says in His Word, the Bible.  But, rather, they “put to death” their bodies, not literally, but spiritually, as God commands in Colossians 3:5:

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…

The Greek word translated as “mortify,” Strong’s #3499, is “nekroo.”  It is only found three times in the New Testament: once, it is translated as “mortify,” and twice it is translated as “dead.”  Speaking of Abraham, it says in Romans 4:19: “he considered not his own body now dead,” and also of Abraham, it says in Hebrews 11:12: “and him as good as dead.”  So, in the verse in Colossians, the word “mortify” means “dead.”  It goes on to say in Colossians 3:5:

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

We are to put these things “to death.”  If you want to kill the flesh because you are truly sick and tired of your life – and you know how we can get so weary and tired: “I am just so tired of living. I want to die.”  Well, if you really want to “die,” then put to death your flesh; and the way to put to death the flesh is to put to death the sins of the flesh – the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh.  When you turn away from these things, like inordinate affection or fornication (or whatever our sins are), then we are “starving the flesh.”  We are not pleasing our flesh and we are not satisfying our flesh.  It is as if we have taken a sword and plunged it into the flesh, when we turn away from sin.  Another Scripture that uses the English translation as “mortify,” is Romans 8:12-13:

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

This is what it means to “take up your cross” and to “die to self.”  It is to “mortify” the deeds of the body.  This Greek word that is translated as “mortify” is #2289, “thanatoo,” and it is a different Greek word than the one used in Colossians, but this word also means to “become dead” or to be “put to death.”  This same word is found in Romans 7:4, where it says we are “become dead to the law,” and it is the same word used in 1Peter 3:18, where it says, “being put to death in the flesh.”  So, in this manner, we are to put to death the deeds of the body – kill yourself, in that sense, by killing these sins.  This is the only “suicide” that the Bible would allow.  Of course, we are never to kill ourselves physically and take our own lives, but we should kill ourselves, as far as our flesh and our evil desires that are contrary to the Law of God.  The way we lived our lives in times past and the way the world now lives their lives – it is normal to them, as it was once normal to us.  Some of these things may still be in our lives even though we are listening to the Bible and desiring to do the will of God as God gives us that inward, ongoing desire to do His will as a result of His Spirit within us.  So through that Spirit of God that now indwells us and empowers us (not our weak and miserable self), we can mortify, or put to death, the deeds of the body and, thereby, live.  This would be an indicator and evidence that we have become saved, as we now turn from these sins.  That is what this verse refers to at the end of Revelation 12:11: “They loved not their lives unto the death.”

This verse can speak of martyrs (and it does have that aspect to it) who have given up their lives for the sake of bringing the Gospel to others and, in that sense, “They loved not their lives unto the death.”  But, it also means that God’s people “love not their lives” individually, in this spiritual battle we are each involved in, “unto the death.”  We are willing, by the grace of God and by the power of God, to put self to death, the deeds of the flesh.