Dakota Baptist Convention

Focus: “And they overcame him . . . and they did not love their life, even when faced with death . . .” (v. 11)

NOTE: This is the final in a four-part series on the tools God gave us to overcome the work of Satan in our lives. 

Where we’ve been . . . Satan has three basic tools: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (I John 2:16).  He also tries to discourage by accusing us when we fail. He is, “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10). God provides three tools to resist Satan:  And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life, even when faced with death’” (Rev. 12:11). The first tool is our relationship with Jesus. The second tool is the bold declaration of how Jesus saved and transformed us.

Tool #3—“They did not love their life, even when faced with death.” The date was Feb. 23, 155 A.D. Smyrna’s bishop Polycarp, stood before the Roman proconsul who said, “Curse the Christ and you shall live.” The man who had been a student of the apostle John replied: “For 80 and 6 years have I served him, and He has done me no wrong. How, then, could I blaspheme my King who saved me . . . you promise the fire that lasts but a little while; the fires of judgment reserved for the ungodly cannot be quenched. But why do you delay? Come, do what you will” . . . and they did.

The halls of Christian history are lined with the portraits of those who overcame the enemy—not with swords and arrows—but with their lives. From the deacon Stephen (Acts 7) through the martyred missionaries of today, John memorializes these courageous saints with, “they did not love their life, even when faced with death.”

What a contrast to the philosophy of our day. The world asks, how can any cause be advanced, not with vengeance and war, but by laying down one’s life? How can an enemy be defeated, not by humiliation, but with humility? Contemporary culture says, hit me once and I’ll hit you twice . . . harder.  Bitterness, payback, and escalation fuel family, political, and even church relationships today. 

In “Fiddler on the Roof,” the oppressed Russian Jews are ordered to leave the only home they had known. One villager fiercely called the men to fight back with, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Tevye calmly replied, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.” Pride-filled revenge can be deadly.

Jesus called His followers to a different standard. “You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:24-27).

The accuser of the brethren understands that pride wars against this. He believes he will derail God’s Kingdom if he inspires us to love our lives more than we love Jesus. Peter called him, “a roaring lion seeking someone to devour and claims that it is humility and “a firm faith” that resists Satan. The result? “The God of all grace who has called you to eternal glory in Christ will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (I Pet. 5:6-11). When we love Jesus more than we love our own desires, will, concerns, and life itself, the accuser is silenced.

Jesus overcame through a cross and an empty tomb. Stephen overcame under a hail of stones. Polycarp overcame in the midst of a blazing fire. They overcame because they loved not their lives, even when faced with death.

You are an overcomer, not because of who you are, what you know, what you possess, or what you can do. Conquer the discouragement, pain, and arrows of the enemy with the blood of the Lamb, by the word of your testimony, and loving Jesus more than you love life itself.