Revelation 12:11, commentary and pictures

They overcome the devil and Satan, that old serpent and accuser, as Christ and His followers who through faith renounce sin and cast off his yoke. The blood of the Lamb is Christ's infinite suffering and death to pay redemption's price, from separation under the world's sin and Gethsemane's bloody sweat to the nails of Calvary and His rising to conquer death. That blood is received only by personal trust in the atonement, bringing cleansing, pardon, imputed righteousness, purity and return to loyalty and obedience without regard to race or station. The word of their testimony is personal effort added to His death, speaking for truth with tongue and utterance, living a Christlike example that leaves men without excuse, holding to God's Word as the shield against deception, and openly confessing Christ before the world and the heavenly universe. Loving not their lives unto death is remaining faithful even when faithfulness costs life, fought out in daily present victory over self, appetite and sin by divine strength, and sealed for those who endure into welcome in the city of God with the crown of life and reign with Christ.

Words and Immediate Setting

The “him” overcome is that old serpent called the devil and Satan, and the “they” who overcome are Christ and His followers who through faith in the Lamb renounce the service of sin and cast off Satan’s yoke. Overcoming by the blood of the Lamb means Christ enables souls to live holy lives that testify against Satan’s claim that keeping God’s law is impossible and that vindicate the righteousness of the law. Overcoming by the word of testimony and by loving not life unto death means standing firm under kindled wrath and refusing to submit to Satan’s control even when it brings persecution and death, as Abel did when Cain, moved by the spirit of the wicked one, killed him because he could not control him. Abel’s murder was the first example of the enmity between Satan and his subjects and Christ and His followers, and the same spirit through all ages sets up the stake and kindles the burning pile for Christ’s disciples. Cruelties heaped upon a follower of Jesus are the rage of a vanquished foe who cannot force submission, and every martyr of Jesus dies a conqueror.

The verse belongs to the casting down of the accuser of the brethren who accused them before God day and night, overcome through the atoning death of Christ and through faithful witness with devotion not clinging to life even unto death. That overcoming belongs to the coming of salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of Christ, which calls the heavens and those dwelling in them to rejoice. It stands in the war in heaven where Michael and His angels fight the devil and his angels, prevail, and cast the deceiver of the whole world out of heaven to earth, followed by rejoicing in heaven and woe to earth because the devil has come down in great wrath knowing his time is short, then by persecution of the woman and war against the remnant of her seed, with assurance that Satan will not prevail. In this present battle between righteousness and sin all claiming to be children of God must be wide-awake and take a decided position on the Lord’s side, because Satan’s object in the warfare is to dethrone Christ. It means the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, who refuse to worship the beast and his image and receive his mark and refuse to bow to an idol sabbath and an institution of the papacy, and who keep the word of patience so they are kept from the hour of temptation, ending in victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

Minds taking this position are directed to the temple opened in heaven, and victory through the blood of the Lamb and faithful testimony is joined to Christ’s ministry of mercy in the sanctuary before the ark containing the tables of stone under the mercy seat, where mercy and truth meet. Satan as accuser makes determined efforts to accuse through human accusers, working through minds he gains power over to pour out public tirades and accusations against God’s people, and that accusing spirit will continue till the close of time. Those who accuse their brethren work out Satan’s attributes under another leader, not by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. His efforts are disappointed when accusations are brought into the open and answered point by point by those standing firmly in the faith. Overcoming is tied to Christ, who passed over the ground where Adam fell, resisted a most powerful series of temptations where Adam yielded to a small temptation in Eden and opened the floodgates of woe, stood the test in human nature in man’s behalf though tempted in all points, redeemed Adam’s disgraceful failure and fall, saved all who would receive Him, and gave power to become sons of God to those who believe on His name, leaving the question who will follow the example of the first Adam and who will stand firm to resist temptation.

The dragon of the chapter is Satan and, in a secondary sense, pagan Rome, which was Satan’s chief agent in seeking to destroy Christ at His birth and in making war on Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian era. The apocalyptic beasts arise from the union of church and state, which becomes a persecuting power that cruelly destroys those who oppose it. The blood of the Lamb is the blood of Christ by which believers are purchased. That blood is the voice of the whole Old Testament Scriptures and the blood of the whole New Testament Scriptures. Abel’s blood testified of the blood of Christ, and the entire New Testament Scriptures speak better things than the blood of Abel.

The verse marks the side on which people must stand, calling them to leave wickedness and stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel, for Christ’s blood marks the side. It stands amid a powerful assault on God’s people through delusions and false teaching, requiring a clear, Spirit-filled message of Bible truth in the face of the danger of deception.

Prophetic History and Conflict

The verse belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled now as the last warning message to be heard by all. It stands just before the very last call to the churches in chapter 18. After that call come the taking of the beast and the false prophet and their casting into the lake of fire, the binding of the dragon who instigated rebellion against heaven in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, the resurrection of the wicked, the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.

It belongs to the last great conflict between the obedient and the disobedient portrayed in Revelation 12:1-17. That conflict began in heaven when Lucifer's rebellion was defeated and its supporters were cast down to earth, and it is to be fulfilled in the last days. In the last days those living overcome through the Lamb's blood and the word of their testimony, remaining faithful even when faithfulness costs life. There are then only two parties on earth, those who stand under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ and those who stand under the black banner of rebellion, and those who overcome under Christ's banner bear the sign of obedience described in Exodus 31:12-18.

The verse is illustrated by witnesses who maintained God's testing truths despite the wrath of Satan and the hostility of a world-loving church, not clinging to life even when faithfulness led to death, and whose witness maintains the truths entrusted to the church. It was fulfilled by those in the Reformation who bore public witness for truth and held their lives expendable so that truth might be vindicated, while God and angels looked on as witnesses from heaven and marked the earnestness and zeal of the defenders of the truth who defend the faith once delivered to the saints and carry the message to all nations, tongues, and people. It is fulfilled also by the saints who suffered for the truth and fell asleep under the third angel's message, who through the grace of Christ and divine illumination overcame through Christ's sacrifice and through faithful witness, practicing self-denial and self-sacrifice at every step without failing or being discouraged. Their names are written in the Lamb's book of life, they understood and freely shared the redemption they had fully experienced in Jesus Christ, and they are to be honored as those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, not obscured by publicizing their mistakes or paraded as sinners clothed in filthy garments.

The verse describes the redeemed seen in vision beyond the conflicts of earth before the throne of God in the glories of heaven and in the heavenly home. They are a white-robed throng who join the music of heavenly angels with triumphant songs of victory because they overcame through the blood of the Lamb and the word of faithful witness, and their triumph is celebrated in heaven even after great tribulation. Their overcoming belongs to the experience of the people of God and the history of the church foretold to the very close of time, shown in figures and symbols and in vision of God's purposes for future ages so that God's people in John's age and in future ages may have an intelligent understanding of the perils and conflicts before them. John heard their songs of victory while exiled on Patmos.

Victory Through Shed Blood

The blood of the Lamb is the suffering and death of Christ that paid the price of redemption by infinite sacrifice. It means His willing submission to separation from God under the sin of the whole world, trembling before the cup, the agony of Gethsemane with sweat as great drops of blood, and then being nailed through hands and feet on the cross of Calvary. To make that offering He consented to leave the royal courts, laying aside kingly crown and royal robe, taking human nature and clothing divinity with humanity so that divinity could touch humanity. He carried that life through without failing in a single point, and then rose to conquer death. Victory over Satan in personal battle comes by that blood laid hold of by faith to stand on vantage ground with God.

That blood avails only as it is received by personal faith and trust in the atonement, not by human power or theory. Those who accept it are cleansed, pardoned, counted righteous, made pure and holy, and brought back to loyalty and obedience, fitted to join the conqueror's song. Its cleansing is without respect to race, nationality, color, birth or station, for Christ paid the same price for every soul and all the redeemed are one family in Him, with character and not color deciding standing. Those who so trust and obey become His witnesses to the world and will be welcomed among the heavenly host into God's kingdom to seek the overcomer's crown.

His blood and broken body satisfy the claims of the broken law and cover the defenseless sinner, bridging the gulf made by sin. His death silences the accuser's charge that self-denial is impossible with God and therefore unnecessary for man, and breaks his power over minds. By paying the full ransom and coming forth from death Christ displayed divine power to come, defeated Satan's hope that He would not take up His life again, and proved that Satan must eventually die and his kingdom end. Every soul thereafter that develops a righteous character and withstands the wicked one gives a testimony before men and angels that Satan's charges against the divine government are false.

Through that blood humanity grasping divinity can live holy lives that vindicate what Christ proved, for by His pure sinless life in human nature He gave proof that temptation can be conquered where Adam fell. If men in their humanity have living faith in His divinity they can take hold of the divine nature, escape the corruption in the world through lust, and overcome every besetment of evil. That power helps every living soul out of temper, out of disposition, and out of unbelief, because life is a battle. So clothed, believers can labor for perishing humanity in the strength of divinity, pressing the battle to the gates with a living continually growing religion.

This was made possible because Jesus came and fought with Satan first and overcame, so that every soul can overcome in His name and strength on his own account and in his own behalf. He laid off glorious crown and kingly robe and stepped down from His throne, becoming poor that fallen men might become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. He clothed divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the fallen race, encircling humanity with His human arm while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of a merciful sin-pardoning God. With glory veiled to live as a child of the fallen race He measured strength in the wilderness with Satan, the covering cherub expelled from heaven who in jealousy directed his fiercest attacks against Him, and won on humanity's behalf through the merit of His sinlessness.

Divine power is pledged to cooperate with human effort so that believers can do God's will and work out His righteousness on earth. God withholds nothing from the soul given to Christ for service, giving ability for a work whose results are as measureless as eternity. The wounded hands of Christ pledge grace sufficient to every soul, with all power in heaven and in earth cooperating and all heaven waiting to help the heirs of salvation. In union with Him as His instrumentality men daily become partakers of the divine nature, conquering self, temper and inclination and bringing the will into conformity with God's will, learning heaven's principles here from Him who is meek and lowly in heart until they are called the sons of God.

Victory Through Faithful Testimony

The blood of the Lamb does not make personal effort unnecessary, for overcoming requires both Christ's sacrificial death and the believer's own spoken witness. God has given the power of speech, tongue and utterance, and holds each one accountable to use it to glorify Him by speaking in favor of Him and His truth and telling of His mercy, glory and power. That witness is to be borne in meetings and out of meetings, with short, pointed, sweet testimonies and prayers, and those who come together to honor God in this way are blessed, remembered by God, refreshed, and kept from hindering others. Overcoming means taking a personal part in God's cause, especially by speaking up in little social meetings instead of holding back in silence, for active testimony brings great strength to the soul, prevents spiritual barrenness, and calls for steady strength without fainting on the way. Youth and children are also to bear witness, and social meetings that strengthen souls guard against barrenness.

The word of testimony is a living Christlike example that leaves men without excuse, by lifting up the Man of Calvary and living and working out the example the Lord gave. It means living the holy law and giving the world a living example of a Christlike life, so that those who overcame lived what was set before them. As the Lord rapidly closes His work, those to be fitted for heaven must testify to faith by good works, for faith without works is dead, and separate from the evil practices of the world that lies in wickedness. Their witness to the world is unity with Christ, shown by receiving God's revealed teachings and doing what His Word requires, loving Christ who redeemed them and growing in knowing Him by displaying His character and reflecting it in lives that do the duties required.

The word of testimony also includes God's Word received by faith, prayerfully studied and put into practice, as the weapon that shields believers from Satan's deceptions and power and enables them to overcome. That shield guards against lying wonders that would lead away from God's commandments, against giving heed to fables, and against being ensnared when the sick are healed and miracles are performed in sight as if from God. Arming now and holding to the plain precepts and commandments of God brings off conquerors in the soon-coming contest.

The word of testimony is open witness before the heavenly universe and the world, acknowledging Christ as Saviour and honoring God in words, works and ways, which exerts a winning influence for others. It declares with gratitude and clear, confident praise that Christ gave His life for the believer at priceless cost, and the overcomer glorifies Christ's name and is willing in turn to give life for Him. That confession begins at baptism and continues in speaking, with full and free thanksgiving to God and the Lamb in congregations and even large assemblies, letting light shine in expressions of gratitude for His great love, under Christ's watchcare. It tells of Jesus, how He lived in the world and how He hung on the cross and was derided, how Pilate declared before His scornful accusers that he found no fault in Him yet gave up Christ Jesus the Son of the living God to save his own office, to have spikes driven through His hands and feet and to be hanged on the cruel cross. It is given in simple childhood language that all who understand English can understand rather than in high, popular language, warning others, reproving sin in the churches by going aside to talk the matter over and pray together which will frequently heal the difficulty, and openly approving what is of God. Refusing that witness places a person on the losing side, gives advantage to satanic agencies, and withholds the winning influence, and no advantage for living by faith in the Son of God can be afforded to be lost, since such a life is possible for all because the Father sent His Son to live a heavenly-order life calling for appreciation of the infinite sacrifice.

Overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of personal testimony includes helping those who are weak and have not been able to overcome, for believers become overcomers by helping others to overcome. Communicating to others the grace received makes believers partakers of rich blessings and keeps the soul in the love of Christ, while keeping God's commandments produces an obedient spirit whose service of charity and love God can accept. It means giving the life to carry through the history to be carried through, not only saving one's own soul but laboring for souls all around, appealing to those nigh and afar off with the words of Scripture put into print, and pleading with God night after night that He would work upon hearts. This living faith is the privilege of every believer to possess and is to be learned where believers are, letting light shine, speaking words of encouragement and blessing to one another, maintaining a living testimony to the chosen side, and not holding the minister to labor for them when he is called to greater need elsewhere. Those who overcome in this faithful, unselfish labor for perishing souls will hear individual approval in the day of final award and will be fitted by the Holy Spirit to wear the crown of life in the kingdom of God.

The art of overcoming that every soul must learn in order to meet work in the judgment without shame comes through Christ's sacrifice and through bearing a spoken witness, and it requires a clean heart that produces clean lips and clean hands. It means doing works of justice and mercy and the love of God, developing a character that helps the next soul, and answering to God for work that could have been done but was left undone. Sanctified lips and enlightened eyes see opportunities and give needed counsel to others, pray with those who are willing, and ask the heavenly Father to be present and to work for both helper and helped.

Faithful Even Unto Death

To love not their lives unto death is to remain faithful even when faithfulness costs life, refusing to submit to Satan's control when his wrath brings persecution and death. Overcoming comes through the Lamb's blood and the word of testimony, and the victory depends on Christ's sacrifice joined with open, living witness to the side chosen in the conflict. Wicked men have in all ages persecuted God's people with torture and death and shut them in prison walls, yet in dying they become conquerors, for men may torture and kill the body but cannot touch the life hid with Christ in God and cannot bind the spirit. Faithfulness can require confessing truth before rulers and sealing that testimony with blood, and Christ strengthens those who rely on Him to uphold and defend God's word even when opposed by powerful enemies. Those who overcome through blood and testimony are promised the crown of glory and a place reigning with Christ, while those who seek honor and glory for themselves lose the opportunity to share His throne as overcomers.

This was shown by believers who took the Bible as it reads and discarded fables, counting the cost and holding truth richer and dearer than life in disobedience and sin. Their faith was tried and purified, with the testimony that their ways pleased God, and the constraining love of Christ sustained them to endure in the strength and grace given by Jesus to finish the course with Him. They stood firm amid test and trial and sword and flame without counting their lives dear, suffering persecution and torture without accepting deliverance by sacrificing truth, and fleeing into dens and caves of the earth as souls of whom the world was not worthy. The martyrs hidden in mountains, caverns, clefts of rock, caves, dungeons and places of exile did not cling to life even at the cost of death, but valued integrity of soul to God above ease, above property, above life itself, dying by starvation and by cruel violence. They walked with God and will walk with Him in white because they are found worthy, and the Life-giver will call them forth from their rocky graves with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, when ground cursed by Roman power but sanctified by their blood gives them up. Their blood cries to God from the ground for vengeance, as the blood of Abel cried.

A martyr's death seals the witness of faith with blood and advances the truth rather than stopping the work. People who had doubted are convinced of the martyr's sincerity, and the example helps truth triumph and brings a harvest for God. The living example and dying testimony bear witness to the truth grounded in what followers have seen and heard about Christ, leading others to leave Satan's service for Christ rather than abandoning faith under persecution. Suffering brought Christians closer to one another and to their Redeemer, and they were counted as conquerors who would receive the crown of glory when Christ came.

Abel was the first example of this enmity, killed by Cain when Cain, moved by the spirit of the wicked one, could not control him. His murder began the enmity between Satan and his subjects and Christ and His followers, who through faith renounce the service of sin and cast off Satan's yoke. Through the blood of the Lamb Christ enables souls to live holy lives that testify against Satan's claim that man cannot keep God's law and that vindicate the righteousness of the law, and every martyr of Jesus dies a conqueror. The same spirit through all ages sets up the stake and kindles the burning pile for the disciples of Christ, because cruelties heaped upon the follower of Jesus are the rage of a vanquished foe who cannot force submission. Few among God's professed people meet this Bible standard of counting life as nothing rather than abandoning faithfulness. Luther's vow to confess his faith even if he sealed his testimony with his blood illustrates this costly witness, for his struggle was for the triumph of the gospel, not his own safety.

Daily Life of Overcomers

Overcoming is a daily, present, personal victory over sin through living faith in the sacrifice and a daily connection with God, laying hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour and of divine strength rather than resting on another's struggle for mastery. It means standing in one's own lot and place for children, neighbors and friends, humbling the soul before God, crying after the living God, accepting principles of service and walking in His ways with garments without spot or wrinkle and clean vessels for the Lord. It is individual work done with prayer and watchfulness, standing firm in severe trials and strong resistance, staying genuinely converted and sweet under trial to reveal divine grace and honor the One who gave His precious life to redeem, unto welcome to the city of God at final reckoning. It is active war against the enemy fought as intelligent beings seeking God with the whole heart, trusting Christ's help and way of escape in temptation and discouragement, fighting the battles of the Lord day by day and hour by hour against weak points without release, made possible because God gave His only begotten Son for everlasting life and carried out under the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with victory added to victory for those who draw nigh to God and with angels working.

That life is learned where believers are, amid the perils of the last days, with life hidden in God by personal direct communion and by watching unto prayer, receiving instruction and restrictions and making preparation for faithful service to stand as overcomers before heaven and the fallen world. It leaves no time for levity, self-indulgence and dullness about the work to be done, but requires activity and devotion united and work and piety blended, with sufficient strength for daily duties and the lamp burning by holy oil whose light must be shed on others' pathways. It calls for most earnest effort to meet the wants of the cause, taking courage, fighting the good fight of faith, refusing Satan advantage on any point, standing steadfast without relaxing effort, looking to Jesus every minute to be changed into His image, continuing in self-denial and self-sacrifice and cooperating with Him who knows no failure. It means holding fast amid trials and opposition, holding courage and ever-increasing faith when doubt, perplexity, temptation and darkness assail, refusing despondency, unbelief and distrust, trusting Jesus as friend, keeper and Redeemer, resting in His love and protecting care shown in giving His life, casting the helpless soul on Him sustained by His sympathy, pity and living intercession, moving step by step in watchfulness, prayer, trust and true living faith without failing, pressing the battle to the gates toward the crown of life and joy at His soon coming.

Overcoming transforms character into the image, similitude and likeness of Jesus by beholding and studying His sinless life, reading the Word and keeping good ever before the mind, obeying lessons learned, imitating and practicing as He taught and worked, with grace to train youth for eternal life. The blood means His suffering and death paying redemption's price, accepted by faith to lay hold of divine power and stand on vantage ground with God, and the word of testimony means a witness opposite to Satan's by a heart and mind sanctified by obedience to truth and fastened upon Christ morning, noon and night in dependence on His power and grace. In daily life this includes controlling speech, holding peace under provocation where silence is eloquence and the greatest rebuke to the marrer of peace, letting Christ's love dwell in the heart, putting away hasty temper, unguarded speech, cross dispositions, cruel speech, unkind thought and character out of harmony with the Spirit, and living a well-ordered life with godly conversation as lights in church and world, discerning spiritual things spiritually and drinking deeply of salvation to reveal His meekness and lowliness. It requires humility before God and daily conversion, truly accepting Christ by faith with no exalting of self and exalting Him as the hope of eternal life, following the meek and lowly example to become wise in religious experience, for what is not overcome in this life bars transfer to God's courts and Christ's presence, and this life is the school where believers must graduate sensibly to be fitted for the higher school above.

Overcoming includes victory over appetite, beginning where humanity's ruin began, for Christ's victory over appetite in the wilderness encourages every struggling soul that temptation can be overcome as He overcame. Resisting gratification brings passions under control and strengthens mental and moral powers, purifying the soul through belief in the truth while faithfully doing duty looking to God for strength. The faithful who keep marching forward may receive the crown of life with a record showing victory through Christ's blood and testimony, but the promise is not for one overcome by perverted appetite, especially when the enemy casts his dark shadow between souls and God and gains control so men make a god of the stomach with senses beclouded by overeating and with stimulants and narcotics offered to make them forget God. Victory requires remembering these devices and daily gaining advantage by feeding on spiritual food, for as the body is built from what is eaten so the mind is strengthened when the Bible is guide and counsellor, with faith piercing the shadow to grasp glory beyond lest the Saviour who became poor to enrich be disappointed. Applied to sexual impurity it means earnest striving with fasting and prayer, repenting of and forsaking all uncleanness and Sodomitish impurity to become saints fitted for the royal family in the kingdom on the earth made new and to escape wrath at the execution of judgment, while the unrepentant fall with the wicked.

Overcoming is shown when the soul flooded with the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness reflects light to others, inviting to love and good works by personal example, fervent charity, brotherly love and unswerving fidelity, abounding in faith, love and devotion. Love and humility melt the way into hearts that seem barricaded, and the Spirit within is revealed by words and actions that encourage and bless rather than by strife, self-seeking, selfish ambition or complaint. It means putting aside differences between brethren and sisters, holding no grudges, cherishing no differences, refusing discontent and enmity, obeying God's requirements, preserving sacred oneness and unity and confidence in one another in conduct, heart, mind, soul, speech and prayer, extending that influence beyond the little company to the large company around and refusing any feeling against brethren Christ does not sustain. It is individual preparation for heaven calling for working in harmony, sustaining the cause with disinterested effort, helping any losing heart with cheerful encouraging words, letting no discouraging word fall, growing heavenly minded and renewing the covenant by continual fulfilment of His Word, so influence carries convincing power with angels round about and makes impressions for good on all contacted.

Believers live in an enemy's country and happiness depends on watchful closeness to Christ in self-denial and sacrifice, avoiding not only glaring dangers and perilous inconsistent moves but constant guard lest they fall easy prey. Satan, cast out of heaven, has come down with great power and is on the track of every soul to keep them from overcoming, striving with worldly entanglements, error, superstition and every conceivable artifice to win followers from Christ and take souls captive. He does not always work as an open avowed enemy or roaring lion, but often through smooth words and fair speeches that would deceive if possible the very elect, seeking to hinder God's work. Safety is in watching without relaxation, keeping close to Christ's side, walking the narrow path of self-denial, sacrifice and humility to the city of God, making the Lord Teacher so the Spirit lifts a standard when the foe comes like a flood, walking humbly distrustful of own wisdom with angels as helpers and protectors and God's keeping power known in special peril, especially in earth's closing intensity when intensity takes hold of every earthly element, while the careless and indifferent who cast aside His yoke, leave humility, wander into strange paths and presume in wilful ignorance pay with loss of souls.

The call applies in every station, requiring watching every day, praying, believing and remaining faithful because the end is near and battles will soon be over, unto seeing the King in His beauty, reaching home, receiving heaven's treasures, a place at God's right hand and praise with immortal tongue. Parents share in overcoming by rejecting foolishness, pride and vanity, striving for the immortal crown and eternal inheritance above earthly possession, a life measuring with God's life, bringing children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, educating them for the heavenly courts, teaching commandments and praying with them instead of leaving them without solid education, with angels molding the children's characters and strengthening parental efforts. Physicians, nurses and workers in every department of healing institutions have the privilege of overcoming by grasping God's promises with deeper consecration and determination always to choose the upward path, working in harmony with the Spirit on a higher platform by the Holy Spirit's power, keeping the mind pure and uplifted to make spiritual impression on the sick, praying and trusting moment by moment in Christ rather than own strength, cleansed by His blood and guarded by heavenly armor, with trials preparing for conflict. Where there is earnest resolve to grow in grace and knowledge whatever the natural temperament, angels work with the workers, overcoming power comes over defects of character and temperament, and walking in the Lord's way to uplift others brings the Spirit's blessing, with teachers, students and seekers of education likewise to be reconverted, contrary to worldly custom, excelling in right doing at home and school, standing decided, using reason, repenting and bringing salvation through the camp.

Only those so overcoming will be found loyal and true in the final ordeal when Satan works miracles to deceive and sets up his power as supreme, when the church may appear as about to fall but does not fall, and when sinners in Zion are sifted as chaff from precious wheat. They remain without spot or stain and without guile, divested of self-righteousness and arrayed in Christ's righteousness, purified by obeying the truth, gathering strength from the trying process and exhibiting holiness amid apostasy. To stand as an overcomer means practical character building under the standard of righteousness, keeping God's law before the degraded and maintaining Holiness unto the Lord, elevating ideas of what God requires in rescue work. There is no cheap Christianity that keeps its scent like Moab because unchanged from vessel to vessel and character to character; character must be determined by inward grace on the heart, with God's law written within proving excellent resolutions after the divine similitude, and the larger proportion gathered without this will not stand.

To overcome, the blood and the testimony must be on the right side of the question by falling on the Rock and fighting the good fight of faith instead of absorbing unbelief. Those open to unbelief, crediting its suggestions, following others' say-so and working against given light and evidences will never overcome but fall at last; the way is to gather rays of light already given and act on the weight of evidence rather than questioning because some things are unexplained. It includes holding testimony and meeting difficulty with humility, so when stumbling over ununderstood Scripture, humility of mind with the word of testimony brings victory. Overcoming is the song of those holding fast the beginning of confidence firm unto the end while God carries forward His work in His own way in the light of His people's redemption, with truth advancing in true seekers in whom He sees His name and truth magnified, a privilege now as conflict grows more trying, calling for faithfulness. It comes by trusting God's promises and earnestly resolving to grow in grace and knowledge whatever the temperament, depending on Christ and His grace to attain purity and holiness and serve on the Lord's side, looking to Jesus in faith to be changed into God's likeness, denying self and yielding will and ways to God's will and way, having heaven brought into the soul and Christ manifested in life, receiving converting power and the Holy Spirit to pass safely through last-day perils, clinging to the Mighty One over unhappy temperaments, honoring truth and Christ who gave His life, and gaining fitness to enter the gates with the nation keeping truth and join triumph in glory.

Reward Promised to Overcomers

Overcoming is by laying hold of the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour and by the word of testimony held as assurance and credentials to rely upon until the end, which makes sorrows endurable. It means becoming partakers of the divine nature to escape the corruption in the world through lust, bowing in humiliation before God, living a life of sacrifice after Christ's example, keeping on a high exalted level, refusing to mingle with the world or to seek a noted name and high worldly ideas, and willingly bearing reproach as partakers of Christ and His sufferings. This was made possible because the greater sacrifice was already made in consenting to leave the royal courts, laying aside kingly crown and royal robe, taking human nature and clothing divinity with humanity so that divinity could touch humanity and humanity could lay hold of divinity for power, bearing the sins of the world and in humanity overcoming the tempter, so no larger sacrifice is asked and no one need fall. Those who thus strive now through sacrifice and faithful witness are watched by Jesus the Prince of heaven with earnest desire as He looks down on the world. When His work on earth is finished they will be welcomed into the city of God, brought into the mansions prepared for the righteous, saved eternally, greeted around the great white throne where everyone is rewarded as his works have been, given the crown of life and of glory and of immortality, seeing the King in His beauty, joining the song of joy and triumph raised in the great day of coming, and reigning with Him.

No soul will be given entrance through the gates when they are swung back upon their hinges for the nations that have kept the truth unless there is overcoming now by the blood and by the testimony. That overcoming is to hold fast integrity amid prevailing moral pollution on every hand and not defile the garments of character, so as to be counted worthy to walk in white. It is to have washed robes and been made white in the blood that cleanses impurity of character, and to stand before God in righteousness and truth today. It comes only by a life of constant dependence upon the Saviour, daily seeking the Lord and praying even while the hands are employed, refusing to be separated from the source of strength so that help is at the right hand and grace accomplishes what human effort cannot. In that life the word of testimony is witnessing to Bible truth no matter what others say, adding grace to grace, turning away from temptation and from self, overcoming every wrong tendency, beholding what manner of love the Father has bestowed that sinners should be called sons of God, educating children away from danger to hide in Christ, and laboring for children, families and neighbors by reading the promises and praying with them. As that wonderful love and beauty of character are beheld there is no occasion for unhappiness, fault-finding, or dwelling on anything that creates disagreeable feeling. This overcoming now decides how a person will stand in the grand review coming when every case is decided and the books are opened, and it prepares for transfer to the city whose builder and maker is God when its gates are thrown open. Those who thus overcome become partakers of the divine nature and so escape the corruption in the world through lust, becoming rich in faith and heirs to an inheritance of more value than the gold of Ophir, which is a life of holiness, striving through the strait gate in this workshop of trials.

Their overcoming is the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and keep the word of patience so they are kept from the hour of temptation. It is refusal to worship the beast and his image and to receive his mark, and refusal to bow to an idol sabbath and an institution of the papacy, after the accuser who accused them before God day and night has been cast down and salvation and the kingdom of God and the power of Christ have come. Such victory calls heaven to rejoice and ends with victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Holy angels join in the song of these redeemed saved from great peril and fully sympathize with their glowing ecstasy over victory, though angels cannot sing of washing and redemption from experimental knowledge. They understand the peril from which God's people have been saved because as ministering spirits for the heirs of salvation they were sent to lift up a standard against the enemy for them.

What overcoming means will be understood in the near future, for overcomers will later understand the battle fought against Satan when glory was veiled in human form to live as a child of a fallen race and measure strength with the covering cherub expelled from heaven who was jealous in the courts above and directed his fiercest attacks, a conflict no language can describe. As they learn what it means to overcome, they will be able to endure seeing the One who is invisible. On earth Satan works to block sight of the Saviour and cause loss of sight, so believers now endure by faith in One who is invisible. Those who are saved will then see Jesus as Mediator of the new covenant with their own eyes, no longer veiled and no longer by faith alone but face to face. They will be renewed, transformed and glorified with Christ so they can look upon Him with delight, finding heaven richer and more attractive than earth and Jesus Himself its greatest treasure and attraction, in companionship with those cleansed and sanctified and glorified.