September 29, 2024 anno Domini
Revelation 12:7-12
In our hymnal the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels is called a “principal feast of Christ,” and the rule is when a festival of Christ falls on a Sunday it should be observed. Since I’m a “by-the book” pastor that’s reason enough to celebrate the feast, but even the rules in the hymnal teach us. Don’t separate the angels from Jesus Christ. The good angels are on His side for you and the evil angels are against Him and you.
First let’s deal with some Scriptural truths about angels:
- Angels are spiritual beings created to serve humans.
- According to Jesus you have a guardian angel or two.
- You don’t become angel when you die and get your wings. That would be a demotion of sorts.
- The Devil is an angel. An evil angel who rebelled against God. He is the source of all evil in the world.
- The Devil is not the equal and opposite of God. God is the Creator. The Devil is a created being.
- God’s angels and the Devil’s demons are in a great battle, and you are the prize. The Good news is that Jesus has already beaten Satan to death.
In today’s text Saint John takes us into the midst of the battle for your soul and teaches you the way to victory.
Before the text John sees a sign. He sees a woman, crowned with twelve stars, who is on the verge of giving birth to a son. Then John sees another sign – a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his seven heads he had seven diadems – seven crowns. The dragon’s tail sweeps one third of the stars from heaven and casts them to earth. The great dragon is intent on devouring the woman’s child the moment he is born, but when the child is born God catches him up into heaven and to His throne and the woman flees into the wilderness.
Who is the woman with the crown of twelves stars? She is the Old Testament church waiting for the birth of her Savior, the Son of David. She is the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus. After she gives birth, she is us, the New Testament church in the wilderness of this world.
The dragon is the Devil, Satan. From this text it is believed that 1/3 of the angels followed the dragon in his rebellion and were cast down to earth. The prophet Isaiah describes the rebellion. The Devil wanted to sit on God’s throne. He wanted to be like the Most High.
The Son, of course, is the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and note the good news. The dragon never devoured the Son. The Son is safe in heaven on the throne. This is the victory, and this victory is your victory.
That’s the set up for the text. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. This is the first battle, when the Devil tried to take God’s throne. Michael is an archangel, a command sergeant major, if you will, but he didn’t abandon his post like the dragon. He fought the enemy, and he won.
Now John sees the battle for coming to earth. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
That ancient serpent. John sees the serpent in the garden of Eden. He names the enemy the Devil, which means liar, and Satan which means accuser. This is the Devil’s weapon against you – words.
Angel means messenger, and what are messengers about except delivering words? God’s angels are messengers of God’s Word – Gabriel brings Joseph and Mary the news of the Son of God’s incarnation into Mary’s womb. The angels tell the Shepherds of Jesus’ birth and tell the women of Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb. The angels join us in the Divine Service. For as we sing to the Lamb of God on the altar, they sing before Him in heaven.
The Devil speaks a different word. He speaks lies. He lies to you about sin. Sin is nothing to worry about. What grandma thought was sin isn’t sin any longer. It’s legal so it can’t be a sin. Anytime you allow lies into your world you are allowing the Devil to mess with the truth of God’s Word. None of you would hold a séance and try to contact the spirits of the dead. You wouldn’t open the door if the Devil was standing there in a flaming red suit with a pitchfork. But he’s smarter than that. Have you ever thought about what your screens open you up to? What lies are in the movies you watch or the games you play or the alternate realities you visit? Has he made you passive, seeking only to be entertained and thrilled, instead of active in love, work, conversation, and care? Has he discouraged or deceived you by some false reality, instead of strengthening you with the reality of your baptism, your forgiveness, your Savior? What sins has the Devil made normal, what pleasures has he enticed you with, what works have you sacrificed to him?
Once the Devil convinces you that his lies are good and true, once he gets you to sin, then he comes as Satan. Satan means accuser. Once he’s got some sin on you, he accuses. Look what you’ve done. You call yourself a Christian. Look at that sin. You keep doing it. You’re filthy, you’re worthless, God could never forgive you.
Those are the Devil’s weapons to win you over. He wants you away from Christ. First by enjoying sin and second by damning you with shame and guilt. Do not listen. Do not open your heart to his lies, and if you sin do not hold on to your sins. Give them to Christ, who has already won the victory in the battle that Saint Michael the archangel is fighting.
John hears the way of victory over sin proclaimed in the midst of the battle, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.’” The victory, the salvation, the power over Satan is by the blood of the Lamb. That’s Jesus’ death on the cross and that’s the Lord’s Supper. Christ’s death on the cross took away your sins. Christ’s blood in the Lord’s Supper delivers that forgiveness to you. Your sins are not greater than Christ’s death. Your sins are not beyond Christ’s forgiveness. The blood of the Lamb is your forgiveness. In your baptism, you were washed in that blood. In the Lord’s Supper, you drink that blood.
Believe that. Confess that. Make that your testimony when Satan accuses. Yes, I am a sinner, but so what. My Lord Jesus Christ has taken my sins away and given me His forgiveness. Satan, if you want to talk about my sin, take it up with Jesus, because He took them. Good luck with that.
Finally, the last weapon that destroys Satan is our willingness to die for the blood of Jesus and for our testimony of Christ. The devil knows his time is short. Ever since Christ died and rose again the Devil’s days are numbered. The prince of this world is facing a term limit. He’s going down. So, his lies and accusations are aimed at YOU NOW. He wants you to seek pleasure now. He wants you to sin now. He wants you to be lazy now. He wants you to despair now. The last thing he wants you to think of is THEN, your future, the resurrection and the life and eternity. Hold to the blood of the Lamb, speak your testimony. Then sin will hold no allure, death will carry no fear, losing your life will gain Christ. And when you live like that and die like that, well the Devil loses one more time, and God wins you, with the help of St. Michael and all angels. In the name of Jesus. Amen.