Victorious Christmas
John heard a loud voice from heaven, the place that cannot be shaken, and the voice said, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” The kingdom of God has come, the authority of Christ is preeminent, Satan is defeated! But not only that, we are partakers in that victory. How? We have conquered him by three things. First, by the blood of the lamb. The devil is constantly accusing us. Jesus ever lives to intercede for his own, the devil lives to accuse us. He accuses us before God. He accuses us before our own conscience, and he accuses us in every way he can. But listen to me, beloved. We are covered by the blood of the lamb. If the death angel had no authority to touch the people of Israel whose doorposts were marked by the blood of a lamb, how much more are we covered, protected, and made conquerors by the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God! Imagine two families in the same house on the evening of the first Passover. These families are sharing a lamb, and one of the fathers is really nervous and tells his friend of his fear. The other says, “We put the blood of the lamb on the door, right?” He responds, “Right, but I am still worried, with everything that’s been going on from the river of blood to the flies and boils. Now God is going to kill the firstborn. What if we didn’t do something we were supposed to do?” The other says, “What are you talking about? We did everything. We are packed and ready to go. The blood is on the doorposts and the lintel. I am telling you we are going to be fine. God will take care of us.” He responds, “Well, I hope so. But I have only one son, and you have two. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my son.” That night the death angel came through. Which one of those men lost their firstborn? Neither. Because the promise was not only that the one whose faith was the most settled and the one who had the greatest peace would be spared. No. The blood on the doorpost settled the matter. In the same way, the blood of the Lamb of God silenced the accuser of the brethren. We have conquered by the blood of the Lamb. Eliza Jane Hewitt’s wonderful hymn, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” said it beautifully: “I have no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.”
Second, we have conquered by the word of our testimony. How is the enemy defeated? By the word of our testimony, by the gospel. How does the kingdom of God advance until Jesus returns? By the word of our testimony, by the Gospel, by the power of His word. And we who have the word by grace and through faith are given the greatest privilege in all the world: to tell others about the good news of great joy. We are granted the privilege to testify as witnesses who have seen Jesus change our lives, forgive our sins, adopt us into His family and give us the assurance of eternal life. In some places is against the law to do that and sharing the gospel may lead to death. That’s the third way we are conquerors: our willingness to die for His sake. “For they loved not their lives even unto death.” We are more than conquerors through him who loved us, Paul wrote. Dying for Jesus is not the worst thing that can happen to a believer. To die is gain!
What do we know this Christmas, and every Christmas until Jesus returns? The greatest gift? We have peace because of the blood of the Lamb. We have an eternal home because of the blood of the Lamb. We have fellowship with one another because of the blood of the Lamb. We have “exceedingly great joy” because of the blood of the Lamb. We have nothing to fear because of the blood of the Lamb.
We have every reason to say, “Merry Christmas!” It is all because of the blood of the Lamb.
Thank you, Jesus, for your indescribable gift!