Rev 12:10+11, And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "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 brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.” And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death. 
	We continue this morning with our deliberation on the first of the two considerations before us in this passage. We are currently looking at Jesus Christ as the Victor. We will then reflect on Him as the Lamb. These are both vital realities of Christ that have very essential impacts on our effective prayers as His Church. It is not until these truths of Our Lord Jesus Christ are engrained into our very core of existence that we can fully and truly offer Him the sacrificial prayer that will stir Him and bless His heart. As we see Christ, Our Husband, in His regal stature and His eternal glory over all of creation, there will emanate from our innermost beings the praise and the worship and the adoration that will serve to honor Him above all else in our hearts.  
	At the forefront of this honoring vision of Christ, by His Bride, rests the fact of His triumphant Victory. It is the unconditional finality of the defeat of the Enemy. Satan is utterly routed and crushed. There is no chance of ever upsetting or threatening the full conquest of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. The Church needs to study the Word of God in every detail of this certainty and accept its assurance. When Satan’s defeat is recognized as a fait complete, it will affect the manner in which the saint’s prayers are ordered and offered unto God. No longer will we concern ourselves with the issues of trying to make a stand in the face of this world power. Rather, our prayers will ascend to heaven as the beacons of utter resurrection power. The focal point will no longer be on our daily struggle, but on the administration of the Lordship of the Victor’s life.
	Let us view a number of those passages which establish the confidence of the Church in the completion of that which was foreordained from before time began. As we read in Gen 3:15, this victorious confrontation was proclaimed at the very onset of the fall of Adam. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." This is the promise of the outcome that will determine the fate of mankind’s relationship with God in Christ Jesus. The serpent will bruise Christ’s heel when that heel is crushing the serpent’s head. Thus was the foretelling accomplished at Christ’s crucifixion. Christ was stricken for our afflictions and bruised for our iniquities as Isaiah tells us. But, the devastating aftermath and final outcome of that heel bruising by the serpent was the resurrection life that trampled underfoot the every power at the serpent’s disposal. He was crushed forever under the foot of the Son of Man. 
	Even before that decisive battle, the serpent was defeated in his efforts to tempt the Lord in the wilderness. At that point, the serpent used his lies and his deceitful cunning to try to remove Jesus from His appointed task. Yet, after every device of wiliness and wickedness, the serpent was utterly defeated and had to regroup. Luke 4:13, And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. 
	There was never a doubt in the outcome of Christ’s victory as He encouraged His disciples in John 12:30+31. Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. He was settled in His heart as to the utter obedience that He was to live unto The Heavenly Father. That obedience guaranteed the successful outcome of His mission to save mankind unto God. There was no question that God’s plan of rescue and the establishment of Jesus’ Lordship would succeed. That is why Jesus could proclaim that Satan would be cast out.
	That is also why Christ could encourage His disciples and all those who would believe upon Him that we would have peace in the midst of this world order. Even though it might appear that things are in disarray and that the enemy is running the show, it is but a façade of the vanquished one. There is a purpose in God’s allowing the enemy to roam about at this time. No matter what is done, it will but serve to show the greatness of the love of our God. God will be glorified, even in the wake of everything that this age tries to do to discredit Christ. Nothing will be permitted to distract or to muddle the glory that Christ has earned in His faithfulness of serving God to the very end; the giving of His life for the sake of His love for the Father and for us.
	John 14:27-31, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe. "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do… 
	The reason that it is so vital for the Church to see beyond the appearances of the power of this age is that it has been so ordained from the beginning that God would allow the enemy a certain leeway. This is in order to sift and to filter those who would believe from those who would choose rather to be deceived. There was no doubt that Satan would fail in his every attempt at overthrowing the power of God in Jesus Christ. There was no manner in which the enemy would be able to wrest control of the creation from the Creator. But, for those who would not accept the freely offered gift of God’s grace and salvation, God allowed the deluding influence.
Even in this, His purpose is served in the fact that the true Church sees through the delusion to the fact of Christ’s Triumph over the false one. 2 Thess 2:7-14, For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
	…because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Notice the place chosen for us by God. It is in the truth of the Victory of Jesus Christ. We are not deluded and entrapped in a false reality as is this world. So often, the media of today tries to instill the idea of parallel universes and alternate realties. The fact is that there is a false reality, a shadow universe. It is the one that enslaves and haunts those who have not been chosen by God to truly see beyond the smoke and mirrors of the enemy’s lies. It is the only other option of belief that man can practice. If one does not see the truth of the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, then one can only see oneself, reflected back in the smoky haze of this world’s illusions. Thank God that we can see the truth of Jesus Christ, Who transcends and has abolished the slavery and the blindness of the power of this age.
	As the writer to the Hebrews enlightens us, it is only because Jesus Christ took upon Himself the curse of our death that we can be free to see the truth. Heb 2:14+15, Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. In going to the cross and submitting Himself to death for our sakes, Jesus Christ has pulled away the blinders that were shutting our eyes from the reality of God’s Love and Grace and Mercy. He has set us free from the captivity of the lies of this realm and made us see the truth of His glorious victory over all the powers of this realm. There is nothing that this world can now use to entrap those whose eyes are focused on the Lord Jesus Christ in His place of Victory. 
This is the promise fulfilled that was recorded in Isa 60:1-5. "Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. "For behold, darkness will cover the earth, And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, And His glory will appear upon you. "And nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. "Lift up your eyes round about, and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms. "Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you. The earth and the peoples of the earth will be covered with a deep darkness, but the light of God will shine upon those who know Him and trust Him. They will see His glory and rejoice in His goodness. This world is dark and gloomy and lost, but we live in the light of Christ and are radiant in His Glorious Triumph. 
	Again, we are confident in the victory of Jesus, living in His light as we see in 1 John 3:7+8. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. There is a difference in the manner in which we live on this earth. It is in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We see the sin of this world and we reject it as having no place in our lives. That does not mean that we are perfect in our every dealing with ourselves, with God, and with man. But, we see sin for what it is and we desire to have done with it. We recognize that it should not have any sway in our beings and that it is wrong and a vile manner of defying the Holiness of God. It registers in our hearts and causes us to grieve as the Holy Spirit reveals it in our lives. 
That is so opposite from the ways of this world which can do nothing other than sin. It is accepted as the norm and even promoted as common human behavior for which we should not feel shame. Those who are sickened by sin are ostracized as unhealthy and as weirdoes. The blindness of this age revels in the deeds of darkness. But, in Christ, that is our place no any longer! As the Apostle Paul admonishes us in 1 Thess 5:2-10, For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. 
	The final destruction of the works of the enemy will take place at the appointed time of God. The Victory is now accomplished! The Lord is already in His place of Honor and worship and power! There will be a final cleansing, as we read in scripture, but that will be done under the hand of the majesty of God in the triumphant revelation of His established Sovereignty. Rev 20:6-10, Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 
	We already see Christ in His Victory. We already acknowledge and rejoice in His Lordship. We are already partaking of His fruits of Righteousness and Holiness. What this world has yet to understand already guides and governs our lives. That is one of the immense joys of this life that we have in Jesus Christ. We must see Him now, high and lifted up, not in the slightest measure shrouded by the smoke screens of this age. As we do, our prayers, even now, will proceed forth in the power of His resurrection victory to touch the very heart of God. So be it!
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "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 brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.” And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death. Amen.

	
This morning’s benediction is Ps 98:1-6. O Sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre; With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. Amen.