DRAGON-SLAYERS!
Rev. 12: 10-11, 17
Sermon Objective: Through Jesus Christ we have victory over sin and evil; this sermon describes the nature and sources of that victory.
Supporting Scripture: Proverbs 24:16; Luke 22:31-32; Romans 8:31-39; 1 Corinthians 10:13;
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
SERMON INTRO
I want to read to you the opening story from David Platt’s book “The Radical Question” (Multnomah Press).
Imagine a scene that took place in Asia not so long ago:
A room in an ordinary house, dimly lit, all the blinds on the windows closed. Twenty leaders from churches in the region sit quietly in a circle on the floor, their Bibles open. They speak in hushed tones or not at all. Some still glisten with sweat; others’ clothes and shoes are noticeably dusty. They have been walking or riding bicycles since early morning when they left distant villages to get here.
Whenever a knock is heard or a suspicious sound drifts in, everyone freezes while a burly tough-looking man gets up to check things out.
These men and woman have gathered in secret, arriving intentionally at different times throughout the day so as not to draw attention. In this country it is illegal for Christians to come together like this. If caught, the people here could lose their land, their jobs, their families, even their lives.
I was in that dimly light room that day, a visitor from America. I huddled next to an interpreter, who helped me understand their stories as they began to share.
The tough-looking man-our “head of security”-was first to speak up. But as he spoke, his intimidating appearance quickly gave way to reveal a tender heart.
“Some of the people in my church have been pulled away by a cult,” he said. Tears welled up in his eyes. “We are hurting. I need God’s grace to lead my church through these attacks.”
The cult that had been preying on his church is known for kidnapping Christians, taking them to isolated locations, and torturing them, my interpreter explained. Many brothers and sisters in the area would never tell the good news again. At least not with words. Their tongues had been cut out.
Have you ever wondered why and how Christians are able to withstand torture and death in Jesus’ name?
Have you ever wondered whether you would be able to withstand it?
I am sure we all have, and the answer is that God will give you grace for such a time when you need it.
But there is also a second portion of that answer. There are things that we do which equip us to be faithful in such times. There are things we can do that will allow us to prevail when the evil one unleashes his fury on us. Our brothers and sisters across the globe have proven that the Scriptures admonitions are trustworthy and that we can prevail or … “overcome” by the power of the living Christ.
The Biblical word “overcome” (nikao) means to prevail, to conquer, to subdue. It is used many times in John’s Revelation (14 to be exact) and is the root for the word “conquerors’ in Romans 8:37 too.
Paul’s beautiful expression of praise and confidence has specific application to such an event as I read above. Listen to 35-39.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nikao’s use in Revelation 12 affords us the opportunity to see “overcoming” in a practical setting and to ask practical questions about who is defined by the term.
Questions like:
• How is it that we are defined as an overcomer?
• What qualifies us to be classified as a “dragon-slayer?”
I think Rev. 12 answers this question with three descriptive clauses, each building on the one before and providing us more and more potential to overcome the enemy … to conqueror the dragon that seeks our life.
SERMON
1. WE OVERCOME BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB
Have you ever seen the old (1981) sci-fi movie called “Dragon Slayer?” The story is about a dragon that is terrorizing a community. In order to appease the dragon the town’s elders have made a pact with it and promise to feed it human sacrifices. Their hope is that by systematically offering the beast its young the rest will live. But the dragon is never satisfied and the carnage continues.
In the story there is an old decrepit magician who lives in a castle on the outskirts of the village and is called upon to slay the dragon. Some do not believe he has the power to kill the beast and so, in order to show them he has, he instructs one of them to thrust him through with a sword.
The expectation of course is that the magician will survive unhurt by the weapon and thus give the village confidence that he can fight the dragon. But the magician dies.
The village is in despair.
The apprentice too is now in despair. But shortly afterwards, the apprentice remembers that the magician told him that, if he ever dies, to take his ashes and throw them into the lake of fire near the dragon’s lair.
The apprentice obeys.
We discover that the magician knew he was too decrepit and frail to make the journey to the lair he could be transported there by taking his ashes after his death.
Once his ashes are properly disposed of, the magician is resurrected and defeats the dragon.
Now we all know this is just a fantasy story. It is not even intended to be a Christ parable but the point is that IT TOOK THE DEATH OF THE CONQUEROR TO SLAY THE DRAGON. THE DRAGON WAS NOT DEFEATED WITH WEAPONS OF FLESH AND BLOOD BUT THROUGH FRAILTY. LIGHT OVERWHELMS DARKNESS EVEN THOUGH IT APPEARS THAT THE DARKNESS IS SO MUCH MORE STRONG.
(Special thanks to Brian K. Blount, Professor of New Testament and president of Union Theological Seminary, for reminding me of the Dragon slayer movie.)
Jesus, too, in death defeated the dragon of Rev. 12. In his resurrection sin and death were overcome and can no longer terrorize humankind with its stranglehold.
The blood of Christ is the most powerful substance in the history of the world. It breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free!
I find at least a dozen blessings in the Bible that come from the blood of Christ
• Remission of sin (Heb 9:22)
• Life and peace (Col 1:20)
• Redemption (Eph 1:7)
• Justification (Rom 5:9)
• Brought near to God (Eph 2:13)
• Church membership (Acts 20:28)
• Pure conscience (Heb 9:14)
• Sanctification (Heb 10:10-14)
• New covenant (Mt 26:28)
• New birth (1 Pet 1:18-23)
• Overcoming power (Rev 12:11)
May I ask you … can you claim the blessings of the blood I listed above? If you have come to Christ for salvation then they are ALL yours. If you have never bowed the knee and confessed Him as Lord I want to encourage you, even now, before we go further, to come to Him in faith because “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Yes. It is Jesus’ death and resurrection that make it possible for us to overcome. It is only as we have had His blood wash over us (Rev. 7:14) that we can experience its efficacy and deliverance.
YOU SEE, WE ARE ONLY “DRAGON SLAYERS” BY OUR UNION AND ASSOCIATION WITH JESUS CHRIST. HE IS THE ONE WHO BROKE SIN’S POWER AND UNLESS WE ARE HIS WE ARE INCAPABLE OF PREVAILING AGAINST THE DRAW AND IMPACT OF SIN.
WRAP-UP
The blood of Jesus is more powerful than the dragon. The dragon huffs and puffs and rules the world through power and violence. But Jesus defeated the beast through innocence and death. That is why he is called “The Lamb.”
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:1-10)
Joni Erickson Tada, a quadriplegic who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, talks about her wedding day. She says, “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn’t fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride. How easy it is for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely — especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But he loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love and cannot wait for the day we are united with him forever.”
And we, unattractive, frightened, paralyzed and imperfect, yet wild with hope, come to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We feel inadequate and unworthy, yet our eyes are fixed on Christ. We are overwhelmed with emotion as we know that we are loved and accepted just as we are, and that the wedding will bring about a transformation. The blood and water that flowed from his side has released us from our bondage, healed our brokenness and cleansed us from our sin. We become the Bride of Christ, not just in theory or potentially, but in reality. And there, together with him and all the redeemed, we will taste the new wine of the kingdom.
That’s the power of Jesus’ blood my friends … it makes us friends with God and defeats the enemy!
Behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
(2 Corinthians 6:2)
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene, Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
