The term “conquered” occurs 17 times in John's Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Greek root, νικη, transliterates nike and means “victory.” Look familiar? (If not, watch a sporting event or two.) How about that? Our sports culture expresses a biblical theme! Jesus said his church will be victorious over earthly and even demonic powers (see Mt 16:18). In his Revelation, Jesus promises amazing rewards to the one who conquers, and the book envisions the playing out of that victory. Those promises are made in the corporate context of the local churches in chs.2-3, though they have implications for the individual as well.
Several entities conquer in Revelation: the demonic powers of this earth, the Christians/Churches, and Jesus. The conquering of the demonic earthly powers is temporary. The conquering of Jesus is ultimate, final, and eternal. The conquering of the Church is bound up in that of Christ, and it is conditional, resulting from faithful perseverance through persecution to final blessing. These conditions are important because they help us understand how the Church conquers. We must understand what this conquering means and what it looks like, so we stay focused on our true mission.
Revelation provides a contrast to understand real victory. The world’s recorded history has not offered victory in any lasting sense. Conquering is military, socio-political, and or cultural. It comes through movements characterized by shifts in power. All those who have conquered in these ways have themselves eventually been conquered. How will it be different for the Church?
The Church’s conquering will be enduring because it is a different kind of conquering. It is defined in Rv 12:11:
They conquered him
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.
The “him” in this verse is our ultimate adversary, the accuser and deceiver who is the spearhead behind all rebellion against God’s authority and rule. This conquering, then, is the Christian’s conquering over the collective of forces that oppose our Lord, and therefore, oppose us who serve him.
Our opponents are both human and demonic, both individual and corporate. We are frequently face-to-face with individuals who oppose Christ, but the anti-Christian forces are especially powerful as they are united in the cultural, religious, and socio-political systems of fallen humanity. We are beginning to feel those forces more strongly now in the current shift against Christianity in the U.S. We feel pressure from individuals, we feel it from our culture, and even from our governing authorities.
If the Church is to conquer, how do we prevail upon this opposition? What are we supposed to do as Christians and as local congregations? Do we need to “take back” our country through political activism? Is our mission to radicalize our culture by flooding social media with Christian rhetoric or by flooding the streets with an imposing movement of social activists?
Scripture is clear about how Christians conquer every kind of evil. We stand in the reality of our own salvation by the Lamb, and we faithfully give testimony about that work until our death. Our witnessing is our conquering. To conquer, we must faithfully proclaim the true gospel and live it out for as long as we are granted by God to do so. This means we must not corrupt the gospel message or confuse our gospel mission with any other agenda, passion, or movement. This is why Jesus called every one of the seven churches of Rv 2-3 to conquer, but in doing so he speaks only of perseverance in pure doctrine and faithful living.
Does the Christian care about social justice? Absolutely! Should the Christian speak truth in the political arena or on social media? Yes, provided it is with discernment and that our focus is on lovingly promoting the gospel and no lesser agenda. We must not be deceived into throwing our energy into any inferior and short-lived earthly form of conquering. Our conquering is not through social reform or politics or cultural revolution, though we may rightfully hope it impacts those arenas. Our conquering is by the finished work of the cross and by our testimony of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
The Church does not conquer by revolution. She conquers by revelation. We conquer the dark forces of this world by going on record about the great Lamb. We proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Cor 11:26), because his death for sins is our victory.
These are frustrating times for us, but we know we are conquerors. Let us be careful to remember why and in what way this is true. We are only victorious in Christ, and that victory comes through suffering as faithful witnesses for his sake. Hear the words of Paul, who gave up everything for Christ:
Romans 8:31–39 (CSB)
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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