Introduction 

The War and Victory of Christ 

John now sees a great war between Michael and the angels of God and the dragon and his evil minions. They fought as if this evil dragon had a chance. It was the universe’s greatest mismatch, omnipotence versus arrogance, and pride versus the Way of God. The dragon, Satan himself, seeks to destroy by deceiving us to do his bidding, tricking us to think it is the best, most fun option, when in fact, all it does is devastate us, taking us away from family, opportunities, fullness, and Christ’s ever abundant love. Christ is triumphant; His blood and sacrifice prevails and is too much for Satan to handle. He can’t stand against the goodness of Christ. Thus, the dragon and his minion lost are defeated and thrown out of the Heaven. 

Mainly, this passage shows us the defeat of Satan and the victory of Christ! This can be applied to sin, disease, pride, spiritualism, or as it evidently means, spiritual warfare—a template on how Satan and evil seek to operate, a plan of the enemy. But, the bottom line is this; Christ is the Victor! His win has continual outcomes of triumph for the Christian, and judgment and consequences for Satan and those who follow him. This passage may be a depiction of the fall of Satan, the application of how he works, the battle of the Cross, or how he sought to steal the show and defeat Christ to prevent the salvation of the elect. Perhaps it is all of the above; but, the context clearly shows the prime meaning to be the battle of the Cross. Satan was just using the same old game plan as he did before, and Christ again proved victorious by His redemptive blood and resurrection. The point God has for us is this: the devil has his ways and plan and God has His; the devil has his facts and God has His Truth, The question is what will reign in you (Isaiah 14:12-14; John 12:31-33; Col. 2:15)? 

How do you handle a great crisis? Do you panic, come alive and take charge, or what? How is the way we handle a crisis like the way we handle Satan’s temptations?