A Song in the Midst of Persecution

Scripture:

Rev. 12:10     Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
    “Now have come the salvation and the power
        and the kingdom of our God
        and the authority of his Messiah,
    for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
        who accuses them day and night before our God.
Rev. 12:11     But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
        and by the word of their testimony,
    for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Observation:

The vision was one of heaven which was breaking out into victorious song. The victory would come as a result of the death of Jesus Christ. His blood, shed for the world provides a way for his followers to find victory, even in death. The combination of the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony led to eternal life, and this was the victory. Death on this earth only led to life with Christ and therefore the martyrs were ultimately victorious.

Application:

This is a song to be sung in the midst of persecution. We know that in the first century there were already numerous martyrs in Christianity. They were being burned alive in Nero’s gardens and sent to the Colosseum to be ripped apart by the lions. And yet in the face of these horrible deaths there were not clinging to life. Instead their testimony (martyrdom) was revealing to the entire world the depth of their faith and Christianity could not be stamped out.

Nearly every commentary writer puts this into their current context and so we find hope for those who have suffered under the final persecutions of Decius in the Roman Empire. They praise God for the victory brought by Constantine which has set the martyrs free. Later we find the persecutions of the Bohemian ruler over the Christians of Wesley’s day, and today we can find the martyrs today in our headlines. The reality is that what we are facing is not uncommon for Christianity has faced opposition from the very beginning. However, Christianity has remained, for the believers were willing to face death. In other words, the fear of persecution did not deter them from their faith. In many cases it made the the words of their testimony even stronger and led them to a greater understanding that this life is temporal.

This song in Revelation is a glorious song of victory to be sung in the midst of horrible persecution. Salvation is available for all of God’s children and the evil accuser has been defeated. The blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ is enough to provide us with eternal victory. But we must join the great cloud of witnesses, putting down our personal lives for the sake of Jesus Christ. Our lives must be a testimony of our commitment to him.

When the persecution comes, will we be able to join in the victorious song of the witnesses who gave word of testimony and who were willing to not cling to life?  This life is not worth clinging to when it comes to eternal life. Jesus has provided the way. We are called to join in by way of our testimony, remembering that the Greek root for the word testimony is martyr.

Sing your song in the midst of persecution — for Christ is victorious!

Prayer:
Lord, may I be a testimony for you.  Amen.