It is easy for you to forget that you already have the victory. It may seem like a gift unwrapped or a package not yet sent, but you truly have it already. Victory is something we sometimes believe we do not possess because we usually define victory rather poorly. We think of those external tokens of victory. We think of temporal prosperity, circumstantial ease, relational harmonies, hopes and healings, blessings and breezes… we look for of our relief when we think upon the concept of victory. Yet an honest look at the history of God’s people never entitles us to stand in those shallows. We go deeper and find out that victory is ours through One who had to suffer and die before He rose. And He has called us to follow in His steps.
“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.” – Revelation 12:11
Victory is in the blood of Jesus Christ. This is a primary theological truth in that a Holy God required a blood sacrifice for our sin. Our own blood, were it shed for our own sin, would only reveal justice but not life and certainly not victory for us. The scales would be balanced had we the misfortune to pay for our own sin. Yet God’s purpose in creating us was to be with us. His eyes are too holy to look upon sin therefore, as we might see it, there was a real dilemma. God wants us… but we are not worthy of Him and cannot be in His presence due to our fallenness. Our sin is the problem and He must put it away if His desire to be with us will become a reality. Each of us needed an acceptable payment for our sin debt yet none of us can pay it. God chose before the foundation of the world to provide a Lamb – sinless, spotless, without blemish – as the sacrifice for us all. His Son would be that Lamb. Yes, the Son of God came to this planet and lived a fully human life. He submitted Himself to the limitations of manhood and walked this earth as one of us – fully man as if He was not divine, yet fully divine as if He were not human. He fulfilled perfectly His father’s will for every second of every minute of every hour of every day for more than thirty-three years. You and I can scarcely go a day without some sinful thought, word or action coming from us but Jesus Christ pleased the Father in all things and chose to lay down that perfect life on our behalf. Having no sin of His own to pay for, Jesus paid for mine. His atoning blood has made those who will trust Him to have a perfect acceptance before the Father. The Father accepts the Son unconditionally and we are in Him therefore we are accepted. This is our victory. This is the word of our testimony. This is why we do not love our temporal lives more than anything. We have been given an enduring hope which cannot fade or explode or burn or dissolve. We have been saved.
This is all of your victory today. When you gather with the saints to worship the Lamb you would do well to sing aloud this Gospel of His. Preach it mightily. Rejoice enthusiastically as you drink deeply. Offer it humbly to those who do not yet share in this testimony of victory. Let the Lamb define you; take your identity in Him and not in some paltry offer which has its origin in this doomed planet. We belong to a living Lord who is not anxious, cringing, retreating nor wringing His omnipotent hands. Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases (Psalm 115:3).
And He has been pleased to make you His own. This is your victory. Let all else fall to the ground without your accompanying despair. What matters most is fully intact and it is provided you at the greatest possible price. You have been redeemed with the blood of God’s Lamb. He was prepared for you. He was offered up on your behalf. He has secured you. He intercedes for you today and…He is returning for you.
Soon.