The King Still Has One More Move

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So a moment ago we sang “Speak, O Lord”and the Lord just spoke! Were you listening? Did you hear? He came to redeem and reign over us. That’s what our focus has been on this whole weekend, that Heaven Rules—that grand theme! 

But here’s the question: Is heaven ruling in your heart? Is Christ reigning in your life, in your marriage, in your thoughts, in your emotions?

[prayer] O Lord, would You give us eyes to see what You see in our hearts? Would You examine us and search us and show us where we’ve been resisting? Draw us to that sweet place of surrender with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength to love You, for You are worthy. Give us fresh eyes, fresh love for Christ! In these next moments, would You give us a fresh sense of the victory that is ours through His life, His death, His resurrection, and His eternal work for us in heaven? I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, as we prepare to leave this place and head home . . . Some of you, by the way, are thinking, “I think I’d just like to stay here because I haven’t had to cook any meals. I haven’t had to clean up any messes. I haven’t had to chauffeur kids anywhere. I haven’t had to listen to the blaring TV in another room. This is, like, next to heaven! Could we just stay here? (laughter)

Well, I can tell you that in an hour, this place will be being torn down, and they will not let us stay here! It’s kind of like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration: “Lord, this is amazing! Could we just stay here? Can we just make some tents and camp here . . . forever?!” 

God gives us these beautiful moments on the mountaintop to see and to experience and to taste—to get a foretaste of the glories of heaven. But He doesn’t intend we should stay here, yet. He’s sending us home. He’s sending us back into some hard places, some difficult places, some dark places.

Many in this room are going back (you know you are) into some challenging situations. Maybe there’s conflict going on in your workplace, in your marriage, with your children—other relationships—maybe in your church.

We heard about a group coming from a church that has just been through a horrific split. It’s painful! And you’re going back to that, circumstances over which you have no control. For some, you’re going to face a battle just around the corner that you had no idea was coming. But I want you to leave ready to face whatever is coming with biblical perspective and hope! 

So, let’s open our Bibles. Turn to Revelation chapter 12, scroll on your phone if that’s where you’re reading. I’m not going to put these Scriptures up on the screen; I want you to look at them with your own eyes if you possibly can. Share with a neighbor if you don’t happen to have your Bible here with you or a phone. 

Anybody that doesn’t have a phone here with you (that’s in the octogenarian category) they have their Bibles with them, most likely!

Revelation chapter 12, we have in this passage, as in much of Revelation, an apocalyptic vision given to the apostle John. It describes for us a cosmic battle that is taking place in the unseen sphere, “the heavenlies,” as it’s sometimes called in the Scripture. But it’s a battle that’s being enacted here on earth.

In this chapter (I’m going to read most of it) we have three primary characters. I’m going to tell who they are so you can be looking for them. In verse 1, there’s a pregnant woman. Now, remember, this is apocalyptic, this is symbolic imagery. There’s a pregnant woman, and they say, “her seed.” 

Now, most Bible scholars agree that this woman is symbolic of the nation of Israel, though with application of all the covenant community, the people of God. So, we have the woman in verse 1. In verse 3 we have a great dragon and his angels. And then in verse 5, we have a Son—a Son born to the woman—along with His heavenly army.

So, watch for these characters as I read through this passage and see how they interact with each other. Revelation 12:1, this is the word of the Lord.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven crowns.

Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child.

She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, to be nourished there for 1,260 days.

Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, [does someone want to say “hallelujah!” there?] and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was thrown out [and here we find out who that great dragon is] the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, [he deceives the whole world, he accuses the believers] who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down. [And] They conquered him . . .”

Who conquered him? The brothers and sisters, the believers. They conquered him, this great fiery red dragon . . .

“. . . by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; for they did not love their lives to the point of death.” (vv. 1–11)

Let me just pause there for a moment. How did they conquer this fierce enemy? By being willing to die! The devil thought that killing God’s people would be his greatest victory, but what the devil didn’t know is that death actually turned out to be God’s greatest weapon in forever defeating the devil!

“Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great fury, because he knows his time is short. When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child. . . .

“So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.” (vv. 12–13, 17)

The Word of the Lord.

Now, in this passage we see war in two spheres: we see war going on in heaven, in verse 7, between the dragon and his angels and the angelic armies of God. And then in verse 13 and following, we see war going on, on earth between the dragon—the devil, Satan—and against the woman and her Seed, the chosen people of God.

That’s who her offspring are, verse 17, “‘those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.’” That’s us! There’s a war going on here on earth! Did you know that? There are eight references to war in the book of Revelation. We’re reading about the final drama in the longest lasting war in the history of civilization. The Bible tells us how this conflict began, how it will end, and where we fit in.

So, who is this dragon, this ancient serpent, this devil who wreaks such havoc on the earth?And, by the way, the enemy is not a political party, the enemy is not a politician, the enemy is not your husband, the enemy is not your boss, the enemy is not the media, the enemy is not lawmakers who are making evil laws. The enemy who is engaging in this war is the devil himself! And how did he come to be? I want to start there.

Well, Scripture tells us in the very first book of the Bible, “In the beginning God . . .” God! The Sovereign God, the Creator God, the Center of the universe, the One to whom all glory belongs, He made His creatures. He created angels in heaven and man and woman on earth. Why? For worship—to reflect His glory, to give glory back to Him.

And one of those creatures God created, to give glory to God for worship, was an angel. We read about this angel in Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12. In some translations it will say this angel was named Lucifer. That’s a transliteration.

Other translations will say that word is “lightbearer.” Lucifer means “shining one,” “morning star,” “brightness.” Lucifer, one of the chief, exalted angels in heaven was created to reflect the light and the glory of God!

But then we read about Lucifer, this light bearer. It wasn’t his light, it was the glory of God! Like the moon, he had no light of his own. He was created to reflect the light and the glory of God. And he rebelled. 

We read about this rebellion in a couple of different passages; you may want to just jot down the references. I’m going to just touch on them, there’s a lot more to study on these. But in Ezekiel 28, verse 14, this angel, Lucifer is called “an anointed guardian cherub.” We learn from this that he had direct access to the throne of God in heaven. He had a high, appointed role.

Some commentators believe that the language here suggests that he was a leader of worship in heaven. He was a worship leader! He was made to worship God, but he wanted worship for himself. He wanted to share the glory of God. He was guilty of the sin of arrogance, of pride. 

We’re never more like Satan than when we’re proud, when we take glory to ourselves that rightly belongs only to God. We read a little bit more about his fall in Isaiah 14 (I just referenced). In the immediate context, this is a prophecy about the king of Babylon. 

But when Jesus talked about this verse in the New Testament, He used this verse to speak of Satan’s fall, and we’ve just read about this passage in Revelation chapter 12. So the king of Babylon was a human depiction of this ultimate cosmic enemy, the devil.

In Isaiah 14:13 and 14, we see the self-exaltation of Lucifer. He said in his heart, “‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

Now, when we exalt ourselves to be our own gods, we can be sure of one thing: God will bring us down. That’s exactly what happened to the devil. Verses 15 to 17 of Isaiah 14 talk, not about his exaltation, but of his destruction, his demotion, his doom.

Verse 15: “But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the Pit.” And we learn in Revelation 12 that one-third of the holy angels—once holy angels, the now-rebellious angels—chose to join Lucifer, “light-bearer, shining one,” in his darkness and his rebellion. And Satan and those angels became the relentless enemy of God.

So now we have one reigning King of heaven and one would-be king. The kingdom of Satan is characterized by darkness, evil, rebellion, chaos, death, despair, deception and hatred. Does it sound like I just read the morning news? You see, when you read those things and you want to rant, remember who’s behind it!

But the kingdom of God is characterized by light, righteousness, submission, order, life, hope, truth and love! And that’s the kingdom that we, as the people of God, are intended to showcase, to spotlight, down here in this world.

Satan is always at war against God and His people. He’s determined to this day to dethrone the Most High God and to occupy God’s place as the supreme ruler of the universe. There’s a painting that once hung in the Louvre Museum in Paris (it’s now privately owned).

It depicts two players . . . The devil looks confident and smug. His opponent looks downcast, because he thinks he’s just lost the match. The popular name for this painting is Checkmate. Now, if you know something about chess, you know that each player has a king. And the object of the game is to back your opponent’s king into a position where he can’t make another move! And at that point the winner calls out, “Checkmate!”

That means, “No more moves, no more plays, the game’s over. You lost!” The story is told of a chess grandmaster who visited the Museum, and he stopped to look at this painting. He stared at it long and hard, pondering.

Then he said, “Wait! The game’s not over! The king still has one more move!” The man who thought he had lost was actually winning! Time and time again, Satan thinks that he’s backed you or me into a corner and he declares, “Checkmate! You’re a loser! I’ve got you now!”

He does the same thing to God. Remember, he’s arrogant, he’s foolish. But each time he does that, we see that the game’s not over. The King still has one more move! Let me just walk with you through several examples of this kind of attack/counterattack in Scripture, and then in the history of the church, going back to the Garden of Eden.

Having been cast out of Heaven, Satan, who was angry at God, attacked God’s cherished creatures. Remember, when Satan comes after God’s people, we’re not really the ones he wants. We don’t matter enough to be important to him. When he gets us, he believes he gets at God. That’s his enemy. 

So, the devil—the serpent—tempted Adam and Eve to be their own rulers. His goal was not to disprove God’s existence or to turn them into atheists. His goal was to persuade them to be their own rulers, to bow down to and worship another god.

The moment Adam and Eve ate that fruit that God had said, “Don’t eat,” they sided with Satan against God, and they became enemies of God. At that point we can imagine Satan shaking his fist at God and saying, “Checkmate!”

But God said, as if it were, “The game’s not over. The King still has another move!”

You see, the fall of man and man’s rebellion against God did not catch God off-guard. He didn’t have to call any emergency meetings in heaven. He already, from before the foundation of the earth, had a plan in place.

In Genesis 3:15 we have the first telling of the gospel, the good news for fallen rebellious sinners. Satan had said to God, “I will!” Adam and Eve had said, “I will!” But God said, in the face of their rebellion “I will! I will redeem you from your fallenness.”

God said to the serpent that there would be enmity, hostility, between the serpent—Satan—and the woman. He said, “between your seed and her Seed, your offspring and her Offspring.” He promised that there would be long-term war, hostility, Satan versus the woman and her Seed, the human race.

But this reference to the Seed of the woman, the offspring of the woman, also points to a promised Savior who would be born of a woman. God said there in the Garden that the devil would be able to do damage to the woman and her Seed. 

He said, “You will bruise the heel of her Seed.” Now, a wound to your achilles or your heel, that can be super painful, but it’s not fatal. And then He says that in the end the devil would lose. He says,

But in the end, her Seed (make that a capital “S,” because He’s talking about the Savior) will bruise your head.

The Seed of the woman would inflict a fatal wound on the devil. The final outcome is not and never has been in doubt. The offspring of the woman will crush and destroy the serpent forever!

Now, Satan heard God’s promise, but he refused to concede the battle. He was blinded by his pride and hatred of God. He was determined to keep striking back with the vain hope that he might yet thwart God’s plan.

God had said to Satan that Satan would be crushed, his head would be bruised by the Offspring—or the Seed of the woman—Someone born through the birth process. So Satan set out to destroy the Promised Seed, not just the human race, but the promised Savior who would be sent to earth to be born of a woman. 

Satan’s ultimate goal, remember, was to destroy God and get worship for himself, and so we are in a battle! It’s a battle for worship. In fact, in the book of Revelation there are eleven references to the worship of God and there are ten references to the worship of the dragon—or the Beast, who is Satan—there’s this battle for worship.

Now, the victory is already determined, it’s assured. But God, in His Sovereignty, chooses to let Satan “win” some battles. And ultimately, in ways that only God could devise and design, even those apparent wins for Satan end up bringing greater glory to God!

Satan cannot thwart God’s plan. He lashes out. He does damage. But every time Satan strikes, God comes back and shows who is really Ruler! And remember, too, that Satan doesn’t come out in ways we can see him or talk to him or recognize him.

But here’s what he does: he works through human beings to accomplish his purposes. He inspires, he motivates, he drives, he uses men to achieve his purposes of opposing God. But when men oppose God, remember who is the power behind their opposing God. It is the devil himself.

And so, see how this plays out: Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. And Satan’s plan, knowing that there would be a Seed born of the woman who would crush his head, Satan’s plan was to kill anyone who looked like He might be the promised Redeemer.

So Satan thought, perhaps that Abel—who was a man of faith—was the promised Seed of the woman. So, he got Cain to kill his brother Abel. Scripture tells us in 1 John 3 that Cain belonged to the evil one. Satan was behind this action.

At this point we can imagine Satan (not literally, but) saying, “Checkmate!” And we can imagine God saying, “Not so fast! The game’s not over! The King still has one more move!” And so, God sends to Adam and Eve another son. Seth’s name means “compensation”—a replacement for Abel, so that the godly Seed of faith would continue. 

And through Seth’s line would come the promised Seed of the woman, who would redeem the world! Now, since Satan couldn’t kill the godly Seed of the woman, he attempted to corrupt her Seed. And so we read in the book of Genesis that the sons of God intermarried with the daughters of men. (see Gen. 6:2–4)

We won’t go into all that might mean, but what we know is that there is this outpouring, this flood of evil and violence in the world. And so in Genesis 6--because Satan is attempting . . . If he can’t kill the Seed, he will corrupt the Seed.

What does God do? Genesis 6:5–6:

When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. Then the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them."

You can hear Satan saying, “Checkmate! They’re all going to be destroyed!”

But you can hear God saying, “The game’s not over. The King still has one more move!” For we read in Genesis 6:8 that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” He was delivered from the judgment of the flood, and the godly Seed was preserved!

We come to the book of Exodus and we see evil King Pharaoh working as a representative of the devil himself, and he wants to destroy the children of Israel. Whose plot is this? Pharaoh wasn’t smart enough to think this up. This is the devil at work.

And so in the book of Exodus we read how Pharaoh killed the baby boys. Can’t you imagine Satan thinking, “Checkmate! There will be no more godly seed!” But the King had one more move, for God raised up Jochebed, a mother who was bold enough to preserve the baby boy God gave to her, and those Hebrew midwives. God gave the child who would become Moses the man, the deliverer of God’s people.

You come to later parts of the Old Testament, you read about the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 3) who builds this image we’ve talked about this weekend and said, “All must worship!”

Who’s behind this? Satan is behind this! And then you see these three Hebrew young men who would not worship the king’s image, and they are thrown into this fiery furnace. And you can hear Satan smugly saying, “Checkmate! It doesn’t pay to worship God! I’ve destroyed Your worshippers, O God. No one else will ever dare to worship You!”

But you can hear God saying, “Not so fast! The King still has another move!” And now the King went into the furnace Himself and delivered His servants and spared their lives!

Satan always is seeking to kill and destroy. God is always seeking to deliver and redeem!

And then you remember the Persian official named Haman, inspired by the devil, who demanded that everyone worship him? And then this Jew named Mordecai who refused to worship and bow down? Satan wants worship.

Haman sets out to destroy not only Mordecai but all of Mordecai’s people. He persuades King Artaxerxes to issue a royal decree that would have resulted in the extermination of the entire Jewish people through whom the Seed, the Messiah, the Redeemer was going to come!

Satan thought, We can just end God’s plan right here! You can imagine him saying, “Checkmate!” But the King still had one . . . more . . . move! God raised up Queen Esther and used her as an instrument through whom the Jewish people’s lives were spared.

We come to the New Testament, and now we see in the gospels the birth of the Promised Seed of the woman, the Son of God born to Mary! And right away we see Satan’s plan kicking in, we see King Herod, he’s jealous for worship. He’s threatened by this King of the Jews.

So what does he say? “Kill all the baby boys!” in that area. You can hear the devil saying, “Checkmate! I’ve killed the Seed; I’ve killed the Son; I’ve killed the Redeemer!” But God always has another move. He sent an angel to warn Joseph, and the Messiah’s life was spared!

You see Jesus early in His ministry in the wilderness. Since Satan hadn’t been able to kill Jesus as a baby, now he tries to corrupt the holy Seed. Persecution and corruption, those are two methods he uses to try and destroy the plan of God.

So he says to Jesus in the wilderness, “Worship me!” Had Jesus obeyed that temptation, Satan would have put God in checkmate! But Jesus said, “Worship God alone!” And Satan’s plan was thwarted.

We come to the Cross. Satan enters into Judas and Satan stirs up an angry mob crying, “Crucify Him!” You see what Satan’s trying to do? He wants the throne! He wants the worship; he wants the glory! And to have that, he has to kill the chosen Seed of the woman. 

Satan thought that in killing and destroying—putting Christ to death—that the Cross would be his trump card! But what seemed like a victory for Satan actually spelled his doom! What seemed like the end of God’s redemptive plan actually became the means of HIs greatest victory!

At the Cross the Savior’s heel was bruised—bloody bruised—but at the Cross a decisive, fatal blow was dealt to the serpent’s head! Praise God! (applause) The Cross, the old rugged, painful, bloody Cross was God’s means of rescuing sinners from the clutches of Satan.

Colossians 2:15 tells us, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities [of evil], he made a public spectacle of them [God did], triumphing over them by the cross.” (NIV) You see, the death of Christ was the means through which God accomplished His greatest victory!

But you can imagine that for three days, as Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, that there might have been a party in hell: “We’ve killed the Son of God!” The devil perhaps thought, I’ve won! He thought he’d killed the Promised Seed of the woman. He thought the game was over. “Checkmate, God!” But . . . the King still had one more move! 

On Sunday morning, the King got up, and He walked out of the grave! (applause) Acts 2:23 tells us He was, “delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge.” This didn’t take God by surprise, that [Christ] was delivered up.

The apostle said, “You used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him” (v. 23). But, Acts 2:24, “God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.”

You think Satan might give up, but still, like a mortally wounded python that continues to writhe and can still inflict great damage, Satan stays at it.

Think about the early church, how Stephen—godly man and leader in the church—was martyred. You can hear Satan going, “Checkmate, God! No one will want to follow You now! They’ll be too scared.” But the King still had one more move.

Because, you see, in the wake of that persecution, the church scattered and they took the gospel with them everywhere!And they weren’t afraid because Jesus was alive in them, and the One who is in them is more powerful than the one who is against them! And so, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.

In January 1956 five missionaries were martyred as they attempted to evangelize the Waorani people in Ecuador. You can imagine Satan saying, “Checkmate, God! No one will sign up to be missionaries now!” 

But the King still had another move. And that martyrdom resulted in thousands of college age students standing up and saying, “I’ll give my life, too, for the service of the King of kings!” 

On April 20, 1999, you remember how two young men driven by Satan began firing shots in Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado. Twelve students and one teacher were killed. You can imagine Satan saying, “Checkmate, God! I’m going to destroy the souls and the lives of the next generation, so there will be no one to follow You!” But the King still had one more move!

A student asked seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernall if she believed in God, right there in the middle of the bedlam, and she said, “Yes!” just before she was shot and killed. And in the wake of her declaration, “I believe in God,” thousands of young people were galvanized to take their stand for the King of kings! (applause)

You heard Ed Cannon share last night about the ministry God is doing using Far East Broadcasting Company in many parts of the world. He and I were talking last week, and he told me a story that fits so perfectly here.

He told me about how in the early days of FEBC, the plan was to put FM radio stations in China to broadcast the gospel. They put up the first one in Shanghai in 1947, and people loved these gospel broadcasts. 

They put loudspeakers in the train stations so the people could hear the gospel being broadcast in Chinese, and the people would stop and listen. It was a powerful means of getting the gospel into this huge nation through FM radio stations.

And then, in 1948, just a year later, came the Communist Revolution. It was a bloody revolution; many people were executed and the missionaries were kicked out of China. FEBC had to leave China, along with all their equipment. 

It seemed like a victory for the enemy, and you can hear the enemy going to God, “Checkmate! You’re done! The people of China will never be reached with the gospel!” But the King still had one more move!

The FEBC team went to Manila in the Philippines, and one of their leaders got the idea to start using shortwave radio to broadcast the gospel. For the next thirty years, shortwave became their primary means of getting the gospel into not only China, but the Philippines and Indonesia and Japan and Korea and all of southeast Asia.

You see, the Chinese government’s action inspired by who?—the devil—seemed like irreparable damage had been done to the gospel. But it turned out to be a blessing, because you see, FM stations are such that you have to put up a tower in every city, but one shortwave tower reaches thousands of miles! A tower in Manila, Ed was telling me, can cover all of China! They ended up having much greater ministry and fruitfulness. They’re still broadcasting on shortwave radio in seventy-two countries! 

Ed was telling me it’s been a powerful means of reaching people in North Vietnam, Laos, and other rural and remote regions that have almost no access to the internet or cell phone apps. God is using that plan that the devil thought he had thwarted the spread of the gospel, He’s using shortwave radio.

Several months ago I saw a headline that said China was to ban all citizens from discussing Jesus and the Bible on the internet. I sent an email to Ed and I said, “I’m praying for you; I just wonder how this affects your team’s work in that part of the world?”

He wrote and thanked me for my concern, and then here’s what he said:

Yes, it is a struggle, and it is impacting our work, but our staff are not discouraged or defeated. On the contrary, as things get harder, they smile and laugh. Then they get busy thinking up even more creative ways to get the gospel to the people despite the efforts of the enemy! Amen. (applause)

Well, this point and counterpoint will not continue forever. There will be a final battle. The King is coming, and when He does, He will crush the enemy and all those who have sided with him in opposing God.

I want to read from Revelation chapter 19; you may want to turn there. This, I think, is maybe my favorite chapter in all of God’s Word. I love them all, but this one towers above almost any other part. This is our hope! I read this often to remind myself when I feel like the fray is getting so messy of where it’s heading.

I’m reading in Revelation 19 beginning in verses 11:

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself.

 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. A sharp sword [comes] from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. . . .

Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs.

Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh. (vv. 11–16, 19–21)

Just back up a couple of chapters in Revelation, chapter 17, you read again about this battle. The kings of the earth, motivated and driven by Satan, “These [kings of the earth] will make war against the Lamb” (v. 14).

Now, parenthesis, what chance does a lamb have of surviving such an attack—a helpless, weak lamb? Much less of winning the battle? But this is no ordinary Lamb! Revelation 17:14 goes on to tell us:

“. . . but the Lamb shall [overcome] them because he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings. [Those] with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

The Lamb overcomes all the kingdoms of this world, and all the armies and all the enemies and all the followers of Satan. And Satan himself will be overcome, wiped out, finished by the Lamb. Amen! (applause)

So, back to right now: we’re still in the battle. But don’t forget that the outcome has been determined. Keep going back to those passages and remind yourself in those darkest hardest days of struggle about the outcome. 

And in the meantime, what do we do? Well, we worship the Lamb, worship God. And ladies, worship is not just singing songs with the band up here. That can be worship. But it also means to bow the knee in submission, in total allegiance, to Christ as Lord.

When we worship God we’re preoccupied with Him and with the Lamb, not with the enemy. Don’t get your eyes on the enemy. This battle is a battle for worship. Everyone, every human being, is on one side or the other. There is no middle ground. Whose side are you on?

Are you a worshiper of the Lamb? Have you declared allegiance to His kingdom? If not, I don’t care whether you’re fourteen or eighty-four, if you’ve not declared allegiance to Christ that means you are worshiper of his enemy!

If you’re resisting Christ, you may be a good church member, but you may not be a worshiper of the Lamb—because you don’t know this from the outside, it’s the heart. If you’re resisting Christ you are on the losing side. I’m just telling you. You will be defeated, you will be judged, you will be destroyed with these enemies of God.

So bow before Him now before it’s too late! You can bow now, or you will bow later. Worship God! And then remember why you’re here, remember the goal. Our goal is to be light-bearers, to bear witness to the Light, to point others to Christ, to urge them to lay down their arms and swear allegiance to Jesus, so that all might come to worship Him!

Pray for His name to be hallowed and reverenced in this world, pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. At times the battle will become intense! It will seem like hell is winning.

And if you’re spending more time reading the news than you are reading the Scripture, you’re going to lose perspective. You’re going to think hell’s winning. You’re going to think darkness is overpowering the light. 

You may feel that right now. . .that darkness is overpowering the light in your home, in your workplace, in your city, in our nation, in this world. But remember: when the battle gets intense, those who obey and follow Christ will be rewarded, but those who rebel against Him will be judged and destroyed. All rebellion will be crushed!

Now you [who follow Christ] may get some wounds in the process, “you will strike his heel.” There’ll be some bloody battles, but in the end the devil is the one—and all his followers—who will lose! And when the battle gets tough, don’t lose perspective!

Remember, it’s not about us; we are bit players in this drama. Remember the outcome, the end of the story. If you’re following Christ, if you’re following and worshiping the Lamb, victory is sure! You will win!

And remember how Christ overcame, and how we overcome—by the blood of the Lamb—through the willingness to lay down our lives, even if it means to the death. So don’t give in to discouragement or fear or panic. The devil can defeat saints with God’s permission for a time, but He can’t overcome the Lamb!

So, take heart. Christ has overcome! And He will give you grace to endure all the way to the end. As you watch the news, as you go through trials, the enemy would have you believe that it’s hopeless, that this battle is lost.

Again and again and again you’ll feel as if he’s saying to you and the people of God, “Checkmate! Game’s over! I win; you lose!” But don’t forget . . . the King still has one more move. The King always has one more move! (applause) 

And at the end, the King will say to His relentless enemy, “You’ve got no more moves! You lose! The Lamb has won! Checkmate!” And He will reign forever and ever and ever! Hallelujah! Amen! (applause)

All Scripture is taken from the CSB