He’s not someone I normally think about a lot . . . not a being I like to consider . . . not a subject I choose to hover over very much. But you read Revelation 12 and you can’t help but come face to face with him. He is described as “a great red dragon” . . . the “ancient serpent.” He is identified as “the devil and Satan” . . . he is “the deceiver of the whole world” . . . “the accuser of our brothers.”

And he is a self declared enemy of all that which is of God. Though the chronology of Revelation 12 may be a bit of confusing, the facts are pretty clear. In his rebellion, the dragon takes down a third of the angels with him. There is a battle in heaven where the dragon and his band of minions war against the archangel Michael and his angels . . . and the dragon and his army are thrown out of heaven. He turns his attention to “the One who is to rule all the nations” . . . seeking to destroy Him at birth . . . but fails. He pursues “the woman who had given birth to the male child”, Israel . . . seeking to destroy her . . . but she is protected and repels the serpent. He determines to “make war on the rest of her offspring” . . . uh, that would be us . . . those who have been born of her Son . . . “those who keep the commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” But they too “have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

No matter how you slice and dice it, it’s clear . . . the devil is set on picking a fight with any and all who bear allegiance to the kingdom of heaven and bear the name of Jesus as their own. And no matter how you look at it . . . no matter which battle front he picks . . . the outcome is eventually the same . . . what occurred at that first cataclysmic battle in heaven is the precursor to all skirmishes the devil wages against the people of God . . . defeated!

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.” (Revelation 12:7-8 ESV)

“He was defeated” . . . that’s what caught my attention this morning . . . that’s the truth that gripped my heart. Though he is a destroyer . . . though he has determined to set himself in opposition to the people of God . . . though he is a powerful enemy . . . he knows his time is short (v.12b) and he knows he is defeated. And I know it, too.

Not that I minimize his ability to attack me . . . not that I underestimate his power to inflict me . . . not that I take lightly his hatred for me and all the “offspring of the woman.” But I know that he is done . . . that he is conquered “by the blood of the Lamb” (v. 11) . . . that “salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and that authority of His Christ has come” and thrown down the accuser of the brethren (v. 10). I’m reminded that although the adversary is a “roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1Peter 5:8), for those who submit themselves to God and resist the devil, he will flee (James 4:7). While it’s true that “we wrestle not with flesh and blood” but against “the spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12) . . . it is equally true that God has “disarmed the rules and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ” (Col 2:15).

Thus, I’m reminded this morning that he is defeated.

So, while I don’t really like to spend a lot of time considering him, that it causes me to focus again on the victory that is mine in Jesus is a bit awe-inspiring . . . a bit praise inducing . . . a bit worship invoking.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:31, 37 ESV)

And God’s people said? . . . .