Our Defense Against Truth

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 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.” (Re 12:10-11 AV)

 

Whether we like it or not, the Devil is always there to accuse us in the presence of God and our enemies of those things which we have done.  His accusations are not without merit.  He is correct in his superficial observations.  As when he accused Joshua the high priest of apparent hypocrisy in the book of Zechariah, the Devil does all that he can do to discourage the believer from victorious living and serving.  With Joshua the high priest, the Devil correctly observed Joshua was serving as the high priest with sullen clothes.  He was not properly cleansed and his garments were threadbare and stained.  His assertion was Joshua was unworthy to stand before God in the office of a high priest.  In this, Satan was correct.  However, the solution was not agreeable to the Devil.  God replaced Joshua’s situation with cleanliness and holiness.  God’s holiness was imputed to Joshua that Joshua might serve before the LORD.  This is essentially exactly what the saints listed above also did.  When accused of wickedness, they didn’t try to defend themselves.  They didn’t try to outweigh their sin with their own righteousness.  They overcame the accusations by the blood of the Lamb and the proof of their worthiness as it is found in the word of God!

Who hasn’t had the annoying little brother or sister who made it their life’s mission to rat you out to Mom or Dad?  We have all had that nemesis.  No matter what we did, you would inevitably hear, “I’m telling Mom!”  This little monster soon gives up when Mom or Dad lectures him or her on tattling.  However, there is the coup de grace of tattling.  When this little miscreant waits until his or her older sibling is enjoying something at the hand of a parent that he or she finds it her responsibility to cancel that blessing by ratting out the elder.  Perhaps my youngest son would approach me and my middle son as we were enjoying a hunting or fishing outing.  He would come up with something that he felt would end such a wonderful experience.  “Dad, do you know what he did?”  And then out with it, he would come.  Or, he might wait until one of his siblings was having a good time with friends or extended family.  He would wait until all were having a good time.  He would then blurt out what he thinks would be an embarrassing act in which his sibling transgressed.  In these times, I would often respond that I knew of the infraction and, number one, it was none of his business.  And secondly, I had taken care of it already.  Whether I had or not, it was resolved.  What I would not allow is for a tattle tale to have any power over his victims no matter the truth of the matter.

This is what the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony accomplishes.  It removes all the power from our adversary.  He is right.  I did all those things.  He is right.  I deserve hell.  He is right.  I have no right to stand before, let alone, walk with God.  He is right.  There are far more righteous individuals than I.  He is right.  I have no worthiness nor expectation of grace.  He is right in all his assertions.  But what he conveniently leaves out is God’s mercy and grace.  I am not going to suffer because Jesus died for me.  I am worthy because God sees me through the imputed righteousness of his Son.  I will not burn in hell because the offering of Jesus and the cross and His consequent resurrection has given me the victory over death and hell.  He can say all that he wants.  I have no defense of my own.  But what I do have is more than adequate.  I have the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony!  Praise be to God and Him alone!