“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”   

This is the central theme of the Book of Revelation (12:11 NKJV)

A testimony is a witness for Christ.

The Greek word for “testimony” is where we get the word “martyr”.

μαρτυρίας  – martyrias

By your testimony, you are saying “Yes!” to the salvation and Lordship of Christ.  Testimonies of Christ can sometimes result in giving your physical life for Christ.  See how closely it is related in this passage.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”   

The martyrs, by giving their testimony and giving glory to the LORD God Almighty for their radical change of life, willingly died for Christ … and many by a gruesome death.  

Would you be willing to give your life for Christ as a result of your testimony?  Ponder this.  Pray about it.

Let us stop and pray for those in anguish for the cause of Christ.  These saints have their eternal reward and unsurpassing joy!

LIVING FOR CHRIST

But what about living for Christ?    One can die to self.  “I die daily” as St. Paul wrote. I used to wonder what that meant!  You have the opportunity to die to the flesh every day for there  is always opportunity to sin!   Just say “No!” with the help of your new-born spirit that is submitted to the spirit of God.   

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”  Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)

You tell your flesh, “Get thee behind me, Carnita!”   (That’s what my friend calls her carnal nature!)  

A passage from St. Peter: 

“as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4  (NKJV)

We, too, can be overcomers of this worldly system and resist, by the Holy Spirit within us, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”  (1 John 2:16) We are called to be saints and to be partakers of His eternal glory.   

So we should be witnesses for Christ.  As the darkness gets darker, the light is getting brighter!  (Isaiah 60:3)

THE BLOOD AND THE TESTIMONY

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”   

Pulpit Commentary states:

This “one phrase is the natural complement of the other.  ‘The blood of the Lamb’  would have been shed in vain without the testimony, the outcome of the faith of his followers; 

But on the other hand, 

“that testimony would have been impossible without the shedding of the blood.”   (Pulpit Commentary) 

In the early church, the saints, during Domitian’s persecution, “were the warriors and the weapons by which Christianity overthrew the power of pagan idolatry; and if Christians had continued to fight with these weapons, [the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony] … their victories would have been more numerous and glorious, and the effects more lasting.  The redeemed overcame by a simple reliance on the blood of Christ, as the only ground of their hopes. In this we must be like them.”

– Matthew Henry Commentary

By the grace of God, may we have this martyr spirit, whether we live or whether we die.

As St. Paul wrote:

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”   Philippians 1:21  (NKJV)