The Word of Their Testimony

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that believes decaf coffee is just brown water with trust issues.

Quick thing before we get into it. Amazon has apparently lost their minds and is still selling my new book for 99 cents on Kindle (in the USA and some other countries). That’s not a typo. It’s really ninety-nine cents. The book unlocks the New Testament in a way that’s never been done before and 20 of the world’s top scholars endorsed it, which is the academic equivalent of a standing ovation from people who are constitutionally incapable of being impressed. When will this crazy price last? Nobody knows. Not me. Not my publisher. Not the Amazon algorithm, which runs on chaos and vibes. So if you want it, grab it now, before the universe corrects this obvious mistake. If you don’t own a Kindle, Amazon provides you with one. If you have a print copy, it’s nice to have the digital version also so that you can search the book.

Recently, someone asked me the following question: “Revelation 12:11 says that God’s people will conquer the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. What does the ‘word of their testimony’ mean?”

Answer: Let’s look at the passage in context.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers [and sisters] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

~ Revelation 12:10-11, ESV

The “word of their testimony” in Revelation 12:11 is the believer’s Spirit-empowered confession of Jesus—who He is, what He has done through the cross, resurrection, and ascension, held fast and immovable, even when it costs a person their life.

The Blood That Overcomes

The “blood of the Lamb” points to Christ’s atoning death as the decisive, objective ground of victory over satan the accuser.

This text is NOT talking about telling inspirational stories. It’s describing a public, verbal, costly witness to Christ and His reality.

Those who follow Jesus verbally align themselves with heaven’s verdict. The accuser has been thrown down because of Christ’s blood. Our testimony is that Jesus is Lord—crucified, risen, and ascended. His cross and resurrection have broken satan’s power and authority.

Jesus has gained victory over the unseen powers. And the vocation of the ekklesia is to announce that victory in the world.

The word of our testimony is our allegiance to Jesus put into words in the face of pressure. It’s the verbal declaration that our sins are forgiven and we belong to the slain Lamb, and He is this world’s true Lord.

This testimony, when mixed with faith, defeats satan’s accusations against us. Paul states the same truth in his magnificent letter to the Romans:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

~ Romans 8:33-34

The explanatory clause “for they loved not their lives unto death” shows that this testimony is not merely a private, internal faith. It’s an outward proclamation held fiercely even under the threat of martyrdom.

According to the passage, the enemy is defeated in two coordinated ways:

• Objectively by the blood of the Lamb: Christ’s atoning death removes the legal basis of every accusation of the enemy (and those who echo his accusations). Satan has lost his prosecutorial case. The verdict of the Judge has been rendered: Acquitted!
• Subjectively and historically by the word of our testimony: believers side with God’s verdict, confess Christ’s victory, and refuse to embrace fear, idolatry, and self-preservation.

In other words, the Lamb’s blood is the ground, and our testimony is the means. The cross wins the war, our verbal witness is how that victory is enacted and displayed in the world. Especially when our lives are aligned with it.

As believers, we stand on the ground of the cross, reject our self-life, and declare what the blood of Christ has accomplished and our true identity in Him. Satan is overcome and conquered by all these things. He has no ground in us when we die to our soul-life and cling to the Christ-life that indwells us.

We “do not love our lives even unto death” because we love Jesus Christ more than life.

The Connection Between Faith and Words

Here’s a practical point: all throughout the New Testament, there is an intimate connection between our words and our heart.

“The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

~ Luke 6:45

Therefore, if we believe (in the biblical sense of the word) with our hearts, our belief will come out of our mouths as a declarative testimony. (See Romans 10:9-13; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Mark 11:22-24 for examples.)

By the same token, if our heart is full of fear or pride, our words will exhibit worry and anxiety.

Worry is pride in disguise (1 Peter 5:6–7).

The enemy seizes on fear and pride. So when words that exhibit worry come out of our mouths, we’ve opened the door for him to act.

Faith and fear are polar opposites. Faith moves God. Fear moves the enemy.

Worry is fear-based, and when we embrace worry, it will spill out of our mouths.

Jesus made this point when He said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31)

Notice the connection between “worry” and “saying.”

Whatever is in the heart pours out of the mouth, even unconsciously. And whatever we speak can be heard by the forces of darkness (they cannot read our minds).

Consequently, we overcome the enemy, not just by believing internally, but by declaring our belief with our mouths, resisting fear and pride.

In this way, the word of our testimony defeats the powers of darkness.

This principle has wide application for all areas of our lives.

In the coming days, on The Insurgence Podcast, I plan to do an entire series on the authority that God has given us in Christ. The series will begin after we finish discussing every reference to the kingdom of God in the New Testament in chronological order. We are nearing the end of that project.

I hope by now you’re subscribed to the show. If not, there’s no charge to do so, and you can binge on the episodes to catch up.

Stay tuned.

Yours in His grace,

fv

Struck with Wonder

When the Lord Jesus Christ is beheld, the response is amazement, awe, glorifying God and bearing witness to something extraordinary.

Amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

~ Luke 5:26

GO HERE to listen to over 65 unique conference messages designed to unveil Christ in His staggering glory. More messages will be added in the future.

– The Deeper Journey Team