They Shall Overcome

Right after the fall in the garden of Eden the first consequence of sin in the human soul was shame and fear of punishment. We can see that right after Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. When they heard the voice of the Lord in the garden they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. At the moment of the fall shame of their nakedness and fear of punishment overtook their heart. At the moment of the fall, something spiritual occurred. Disobedience opened the door for the serpent to gain access to the human heart in order to accuse and bring fear and shame.

Genesis 3:6-8 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Because the serpent deceived the woman and the woman listened to the serpent God told the serpent that he will cause hostility between her and the woman, and between her offspring and the woman’s offspring. However, the woman’s offspring will crush her head and the serpent will strike the heel of her offspring.

Genesis 3:15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

From the very beginning, God foretold that for centuries there will be a battle between the woman and her offspring, and the serpent and her offspring but the woman’s offspring will ultimately be the one who wins the victory and crushes the serpent’s head. It will be the woman’s offspring who will make all things right. Her male child will redeem her and will crush the serpent who deceived her. That male child is God’s Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

The crushing of the serpent’s head will indeed occur through the striking of the heel of the woman’s seed. It was through Jesus’ death at the cross that the serpent's head was crushed. It was going to be God’s Son the one who will pay the price for the mistake the mother of humanity committed in the garden. At the cross, Jesus paid once and for all for the sins of Adam and Eve and all of their children. At the cross he silenced the voice of the serpent, taking away her legal right to accuse humanity, thus inflicting fear of God's punishment. At the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserved. Because of his sacrifice, we no longer need to feel ashamed of our sins and fear being punished by God. As we understand the work Jesus did at the cross and believe that he already took the punishment for our sins, shame is removed from our hearts and condemnation disappears. (Hebrews 10:22 “let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.) When we fully understand that the head of the serpent was crushed by the bruising of the heel of God’s Son, the voice of the accuser becomes silenced and our heart becomes free from shame and fear. When that realization occurs deep within the heart, we stop covering ourselves with our own works, trying to remove the shame on our own in order to earn God’s love and acceptance. (Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves). The truth is that no matter how much we try to cover our own shame with our own works, we don’t have the ability to do it. Only God has the ability to do it through the blood of Jesus. Only God can cover the shame of our nakedness and remove shame and fear through the sacrifice of his Son. The fig leaves can’t cover our fear and shame. The only thing that works against fear and shame is the clothing of righteousness provided by the sacrifice of Jesus (Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them).

However even though upon the cross the woman’s offspring took upon himself the punishment we deserved and crushed the serpent’s head silencing her accusations, we still choose to listen to her voice and we allow fear to control our hearts. In other words, even though we should not be afraid of God’s punishment because Jesus already took the punishment for our sins, we still struggle with fear because we still choose to listen to the voice of the accuser. We still doubt that we are free from condemnation.

Sin and death were defeated at the cross. We no longer have to be separated and fearful to die eternally because we disobeyed the Father by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but now because of Jesus, we are able to eat from the tree of life and have eternal life. Knowing this we do not have to fear any kind of loss in the natural. Even though we still have to die physically, Christ has paid for our sins and we will never be punished with eternal death. On the contrary, because of the blood of Jesus, we have been forgiven and now we can live forever and partake in the resurrection of the dead. (Romans 8:1-4 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life sets you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.)

However when we choose to hear the voice of the serpent and believe her accusations, we are denying the work of the cross, the power of the blood loses power over our conscience and fear begins to rule our hearts. This is the battle we constantly have to fight as believers. Is a battle against the accusations of Satan. But the battle is won only when we understand the power of the blood. This is the only way we can overcome the serpent and her accusations. And only through a corporate realization of this truth, we will be able to have the renovated mind of Christ and grow into his stature.

The church is the corporate womb of the woman, who represents all of God’s people. When we put our trust in Jesus the Father plants the spiritual seed of his Son inside of us. That seed begins to grow, and when fully formed, we become ready to travail with birth pains in order to give birth to a mature male child. Just as God’s seed was supernaturally planted in Mary’s womb and she became pregnant with Jesus, so God’s seed is planted in the spiritual womb of the church through the Holy Spirit so we can become pregnant with Jesus. (Galatians 4:19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully formed in your lives).

That corporate male child will be ready to be manifested to the world through the church only when he reaches its fullness inside of her womb and she gives birth to him. Because according to 1 timothy 2:15, the woman will be saved through childbearing. And that will only happen at the very end of the church age. At the end of times, the woman will be ready to give birth to Jesus when he becomes fully formed and manifest within her. That is the picture of the woman in Revelation 12:5 that gives birth to the Uyios Son of God (Uyios is the greek word for mature son). (Revelation 12: 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child (Uyios), who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.)That male child that is born in Revelation 12:5 is actually not a baby, but the mature male child incorporated in the church of the end of the age.

This verse in Revelation 12:5 indeed speaks of the moment when God’s people go through great travail (tribulation and testing) and are ready to give birth to the male child that is fully grown. This is the remnant of God’s people that has reached the fullness of Christ. A people that have reached unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and have become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. They are no longer infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, they speak the truth in love, and have grown to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:13-16)

In other words, the woman in Revelation 12:5 typifies a church that has travailed and has given birth to the fullness of Christ and is ready to provoke Israel into jealousy. This describes a church that has corporately put the serpent under her feet because now she fully understands the power of the blood. (Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet ''.) She no longer listens to the accusations of the serpent. She has indeed conquered all her fears through a revelation of God’s perfect love.

Because the church at this point has gained a greater revelation of the power of the blood of Jesus the voice of the accuser has no power over her. She has gained full understanding and revelation of the love of God and the power of the blood of Jesus and the perfect love of God removes all her fears. (1 John 4:18 Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.) She is no longer afraid of persecution or the rage of satan, and she is empowered to lay down her life for the sake of Jesus. She knows that the blood of Jesus has granted her life and resurrection even in the face of death, therefore she’s free to die for Christ.

At the moment the church realizes the power of the blood of Jesus fear and shame lose a grip on her heart. Satan can no longer accuse her or control her through fear and has no power over her. I believe this is the time in history when a war breaks in heaven and Satan is defeated by Michael and his angels. (Revelation 12:7 Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. 9 And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.) The victory of Michael and his angels over the dragon is triggered by a repositioning of the authority the church lost at the beginning. Michael and his angels are able to defeat the dragon only when the church repents and goes back to the place she fell from.

(Revelation 2:4-5 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first). It is only when she goes back to the elementary beliefs based on the grace of God to remove her sin and shame through the power of the blood of Jesus that perfect love casts all fears and she is supernaturally empowered to put satan under her feet as the mature corporate body of Christ. It is at this moment that Satan is cast down from heaven because there is no longer room for him up there. It is only when the church remembers the place she fell from and repents from her lukewarmness, that her first love is rekindled. Then she is repositioned back to seating with Christ in heavenly places, and that is why the dragon loses strength and there is no longer a place found in heaven for him and his angels. This is the moment of her victory! This is the moment when she regains her right to sit with Christ on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne). This is the moment when she breaks free from the Laodicean spirit and she is fully empowered to operate in the authority of the Messiah.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Satan should be under the feet of the woman in the low places of the earth. However, in Revelation 12 we see him in heaven fighting against the angelic armies of God. The reason why Satan is in heaven controlling the woman through fear as he accuses her night and day is because of the fall of the church. Just as at the beginning of creation Eve was deceived by the serpent in the garden bringing down the fall; so the church experienced a fall right at the beginning of the early church (Revelation 2:5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first). Because of the Judaizers, the church went from believing the gospel of grace to practicing the works of the law and self-righteousnesses. The fall brought fear and shame leading Adam and Eve to hide from God and cover their shame with fig leaves. However, the only thing that can remove their shame is the blood of the Lamb. And in the same manner, God covered Adam’s and Eve’s shame with the skin of a sacrificed animal, the only way the church can be set free from her shame is through the sacrifice of Jesus. Fig leaves or the works of the law can’t remove the fear and the shame! Only the power of the blood can do it! Therefore when the church repents of her falling away from the grace and recovers her understanding of the power of the blood, she regains her place in heaven to rule from above and Satan loses his place in heaven and his power over her.

This is the time when the church triumphs. The accuser has no longer the authority to bring fear upon her because she knows that the blood of Jesus sets her free from all fear and shame. At this time the church overcomes the devil through the blood of the lamb, the word of her testimony, and the fearlessness and willingness to give her life for the sake of Jesus (Revelation 12:11).

At the time the dragon no longer has a grip on the collective soul of the church, he loses his place in heaven and is hurled down to earth by Michael and his angels. This is the moment when he loses all authority in the heavenly realm against the woman. He is no longer above the woman but beneath her. She has made the serpent a stool for her feet because the voice of the serpent and the influence she has in her coincidence have no more power. The church at this point and time no longer listens to the accuser of the brethren and becomes absolutely fearless and victorious (Zechariah 3:1-5 Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. 4 So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!”Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by.)

This is the moment when the church recovers her place of authority in high spiritual places and she begins to rule in the spirit with Christ. This is the moment when she is able to recover the authority and oneness with God that she lost in the garden before shame and fear crippled her heart because of her sin. But the difference is that now the second Eve is not a single woman, but a corporate one that has been redeemed by the second Adam and has become one with him in spirit. And as one flesh they both rule over Satan in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6-7 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.)

This is the climactic moment of victory for God’s remnant. This is the moment in history when the corporate woman gives birth to the maturity of Christ and the accuser of the brethren loses his power and is cast down from heaven. This is the moment when salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God are manifested (Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “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 has been thrown down— he who accuses them day and night before our God.)

This is the time when she becomes fearless and she is ready to forsake all physical attachments for the sake of Christ. She has reached maturity and now she is ready to minister and prophecy for one thousand, two hundred and sixty days (three and a half years) with the same power Jesus ministered his last three and a half years of life. At this exact time, she’s empowered to preach the gospel to all nations. She is ready for the great harvest, and she is ready to be presented to Israel as a faithful witness of Jesus and provoke Israel to jealousy. Also, she receives supernatural power to die like Christ because fear no longer controls her heart.

This is the moment when the global church conquers Satan and becomes an overcoming church. She defeats the antichrist through her surrender and fearlessness; she crushes the head of the serpent and silences her accusations with the power of the blood of the Lamb.

She overcomes the antichrist because the word of her testimony is more powerful than ever. Now she understands the full power of the work of the cross and knows her eternity is secured because of the blood of Jesus (Revelation 12:11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.)

This is the moment when the power, the kingdom, and the authority of Christ are manifested through her. (Revelation 12:10 Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ).

She also overcomes the serpent because she is no longer afraid of dying for the cause of Christ. She knows that she will never be punished by God and that her eternity is secured because of the work of the cross. So now she is ready to surrender everything. She overcomes the devil by showing him that she doesn't need to cling to life when facing death because in Christ she has eternal life and resurrection (Revelation 12:11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.)

It is at this moment that love wins. The church fully understands the love God demonstrated for her when his Son took her punishment upon himself at the cross. In the end, she overcomes with a full understanding that the blood of Jesus has the power to remove all her fears and her shame. She is fully free from fear and she regains the place of safety and freedom she had in the garden before the fall. The voice of the serpent has no longer access to her heart. She’s placed her under her feet because now she embodies the life and fullness of her own offspring. And when she fully understands the love of God her love for him reaches maturity. The love of God is set as a seal upon her heart and her arm. Her actions reflect a heart that is free from fear. Her love for God becomes stronger than death because she knows that there is no eternal condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Song of Solomon 8:5- 7 Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, There she was in labor and gave birth. 6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy[ unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, It would be utterly scorned. She becomes fearless in the face of death and even though the antichrist and his army will come after her, she stands secure in the promise of eternal life and resurrection that Christ provided for her. The many waters and storms she will have to face will not quench her love for Christ but make it stronger. In fact, now she becomes lovesick for him and willing to give all her wealth, and possessions for Christ. It is at the end of the age that the image of Christ is fully formed in her and she dies for love to be resurrected at the time of the physical return of Christ. The one who is ready to marry her and consummate the wedding at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Fear and shame, where is your grip over our soul? The blood of Jesus is enough to free us from the fear of being punished! May we get rid of our fig leaves and may we let the Lord clothe us with the righteousness of Christ alone!