January 29 – The Liar and Accuser

January 29 – The Liar and Accuser

Revelation 12:10-12

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 

         “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 

         Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

One of the most difficult things to realize is that the devil still has access to the throne room.  He may have been tossed out, but until the end, he still stands there as the accuser. He lies and confuses, but he insists on being given time to stand before God and accuse us of our sin.  This is probably one of the greatest mistakes he makes.  He either completely ignored the crucifixion and resurrection or he decided that God wasn’t paying attention that day either and he could still accuse us and force us to miss out on eternity in heaven.

Day and night he stands there, pointing at us and hurling insults and half-truths. Sometimes we find ourselves believing him because there is just enough truth that we wonder if it isn’t all true.  We are so easily deceived and assume that any judge of our character will also be deceived without any effort.  All he has to do is stand there and speak a few words about our mistakes and our poor judgment and we believe he has described the entirety of our personality.

Then the day comes when he is sent down from heaven. He no longer has even that right.  God doesn't want to hear any more lies from him.  The blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony of believers overcame him and he is gone from the throneroom.

He hits the earth and the scripture says he knows his time is short, so he must step up the accusations.  The conflict will be great and he will take the form of anything in order to corrupt God’s people on earth.