Text: Revelation 12:7-12 Michaelmas A
SN: 0031 10/01/23
He Holds the Field Forever
Angels are a special blessing from God. He sends his angels to watch over his people to protect them from harm and danger. He also sends them to protect his church. For this reason, the church has celebrated a festival day each year for hundreds of years to thank God for this special blessing. Traditionally, this festival is held on September 29 because this is near the start of Fall when the days are almost equally divided with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This reminds us that there are forces of light and darkness waging a war for our very souls. Think of how common this concept is in our society. Think of incredibly popular movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. There are two forces of light and darkness waging war for the soul of the main character. A character like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins needs to find the personal courage within themselves to overcome the temptation of the darkness and stay in the light.
But this concept of equally opposed forces does not match the reality of our spiritual lives. There are not two equally opposed forces of light and darkness waging war for our souls. The forces of darkness have already been defeated. Satan, the great dragon, and all his evil angels have been thrown down. Michael and his angels warred against the forces of darkness, but the battle was never in doubt. Satan had no chance at victory, and he was utterly defeated by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This festival reminds us that our Lord and his angels have completely crushed their enemies on the battlefield. This is why we boldly proclaim in our great Reformation anthem, “He holds the field forever!”
The section of Revelation we are looking at this morning describes a great war fought in heaven. Satan and his angels warred against Michael and the hosts of heaven. There have traditionally been two ways of interpreting this section. The first is to understand this as a description of Satan’s initial fall from heaven. We know that at some point after the first seven days of creation, Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. The fallen serpent then tempted Adam and Eve, and all humanity fell under the curse of sin. The second interpretation sees this as a great spiritual battle Satan waged when Christ was crucified.
This illustrates the foolishness of our Adversary. The Bible tells us that Satan tempted Judas to betray Jesus and influenced the hatred of the chief priests. In his great hatred for God, Satan believed that killing Jesus would somehow serve his purposes. Instead, the death of Christ defeated and broke the power of Satan once and for all. On the cross, Christ crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed the power of death and hell. By his death, Christ made full atonement for the sins of the world. This is the great victory of our Savior. Satan was forever cast down. After his resurrection, Christ marched into hell and declared complete and total victory. By his resurrection, we know with absolute certainty that our sins have been paid for. We are forgiven and will enjoy eternal life. This is why John records the great voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives in the face of death.”
Satan means the Accuser. And this is precisely what he does. He accuses us of our sins before God. He repeatedly tweaks our consciences and reminds us of our sins. He constantly accuses and whispers in our years a horrible lie. He wants us to believe our sins are too great and terrible for God to forgive. He wants to burden us with guilt and make us doubt the love and forgiveness of our God. But the Accuser has been cast down. He has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the witnesses. This testimony is the Word of God. It is the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles who
saw the salvation of our God with their own eyes and were moved by the Holy Spirit to write for us all that Christ has done for us. This is the Word that assures us that we have been forgiven. Our sins have been washed away in the waters of baptism, and our Lord comes to us again and again, offering his body and blood as an assurance that our sins have been forgiven. This is why the Apostle Paul boldly says in Rom 8, “Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect?” God has declared us not guilty because of the blood of the Lamb. Satan has been conquered and can bring no accusation against us, for we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
But our adversary is still dangerous. He has been defeated but still “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The Book of Revelation describes Satan as a great and terrible dragon. He is a powerful adversary who has been mortally wounded. And like any dangerous beast, we should be cautious of him. He is filled with anger and rage and wants nothing more than to condemn as many as possible to the fires of hell. He is a murderer and a liar who wants to kill us and condemn us to an eternity of torment with him.
As a liar, he seeks to twist God’s Word and use it against us. He did this to Christ when he tempted him in the desert. He twists God’s Word to convince us that we must do something to earn our salvation. Or he twists God’s Word in numerous ways to get us to ask, “Did God really say?” We see an example of this in our modern world when we are told that being loving means accepting and tolerating behavior that is clearly against the will of God. We fight against the Devil by immersing ourselves in God’s Word. We arm ourselves with the truth, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the schemes of the Devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to take a stand on the evil day and, after you have done everything, to stand.”
As we celebrate the Festival of St. Michael, we remember the spiritual battle being warred for our souls. Satan and his evil angels want nothing more than to destroy our faith and condemn us to an eternity of hell with him. But God is on our side. Our powerful Father sends his servants, the angels, to guard and protect us. We remember the archangel Michael in particular because he is viewed as the protector of the Church. He was the protector of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, and he continues to protect God’s church today.
As we heard in the Old Testament lesson, there is an invisible war going on around us. God sends his army of invisible angels to protect and watch over us. God would not need to do this. He is with us every day of our lives, but the angels are a special blessing that God gives to his people. They defend us from the attacks of the devil and his evil angels. They thwart the plans of Satan and his minions. They rejoice when we repent of our sins and when unbelievers come to faith. They have, at times, proclaimed the message of the Gospel and the Word of the Lord to people. They are God’s servants who serve faithfully before his throne and sing his praises day and night.
Scripture also teaches us that the angels watch over us and protect us from physical danger. Psalm 91:11-12 gives us this promise from God, “Yes, he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Many believers have a story of a time in their lives when they know an angel was guarding and protecting them from harm. God promises to use his angels to watch over and protect us. This does not mean we should act foolishly and take unnecessary risks, which is how Satan tried to twist this passage when he tempted him to throw himself from the temple. But God does promise to use his angels to watch over and protect us. What a comfort and blessing to know that our God loves us so much that he is using his angels to continually guard and protect us.
This Festival of St. Michael gives us a wonderful opportunity to praise God for his angels. This is one of the differences of the Lutheran church. All of our praise and worship goes to God and not to the angels who insist in Scripture that they not be worshiped. We thank God for using his angels to watch over us in our spiritual and physical lives. We know Satan is constantly raging against us and seeking to destroy us. But he has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb. We rest assured knowing that “This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”